Thursday, December 31st 6:07 pm: Deceased climber identified as 42 year old Ryan Jennings of Carbondale.
Thursday, December 31st 2:00pm Mountain Rescue Aspen and the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office recovered the body of a fallen ice climber around 12:30pm today. Friends and family helped with the effort, removing him from the Redstone area where he was found Wednesday night.
A press release from the Sheriff's Department says that the decision was made last night to recover the body during daylight due to the unsafe climbing conditions where the body was found.
The climber has been identified as a Carbondale resident in his 40’s. A friend reported him missing on Wednesday and was able to locate his body in the area he knew his friend had been climbing that day. It appears the deceased fell when a portion of the ice wall he was climbing broke away. The body has been transferred to the Pitkin County Coroner's office.
EARLIER: A representative of the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office says a Carbondale man died while ice climbing near Redstone on Wednesday.
A friend of the deceased called in a missing persons report for the man earlier in the day. He had left around 4:30am to climb near Redstone. When the friend went looking for the climber, he found the man dead. The Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office says there is an investigation into what happened, but it’s thought that the ice pillar the Carbondale man was climbing on broke off. The deceased is described as in his mid 40’s.
The Pitkin County Coroner’s Office is expected to release the man’s name once next of kin are notified.
