According to a post by the Chaffee County Sheriff, at approximately 1:00pm yesterday, Chaffee County Search and Rescue, with the assistance of Canon City Helitac (Helicopter), successfully extricated/ recovered Kaden Matsuda and Jackson Donlon from West Apostle Mountain. When they were found on Oct. 28th, the conditions were far too dangerous, and the recovery had to be delayed.
It was reported that the discovery of one of the hiker’s boots protruding from waist-deep snow in an extremely dangerous area of the mountain led to finding the hikers. Ground teams spotted the object using binoculars and spotting scopes to safely look into the more dangerous areas that were off limits.
The basin was filled with waist to chest deep snow, surrounded by jagged cliff faces, boulder fields and multiple avalanche shoots. The team made the decision to traverse the terrain as safely as they could to investigate the object which led to the discovery of the missing hikers. The portion of the boot would not have been viewable from the air, which the Sheriff said is a testament to the attention to detail of the ground search teams.
Kaden and Jackson were found approximately one mile away from their tent. However, that one mile is deceiving based on the terrain. A very experienced team hiked from the tent to the hikers, and it took them two hours and thirty minutes.
Kaden and Jackson were flown out by helicopter, assisted by ground teams from Chaffee County Search and Rescue, who had to hike back into the dangerous area. The helicopter landed on the county road near Winfield where Kaden and Jackson were transferred to the Chaffee County Coroner’s Office.
Sheriff Andy Rohrich added this statement:
“Today was pins and needles for me, personally, as I impatiently waited for word that the young men were recovered safely. I was briefed on how dangerous the recovery would be, and although I had faith in the abilities of our team, I was still horrifically concerned. Bringing them down from the mountain and providing answers was important.
The family members were stronger and more compassionate than I think I could have been in their situation. I commend them. Difficult discussions had to be considered regarding the growing possibility that this was not safe enough to do until spring or summer. They stressed their understanding and how they didn’t want anyone else to get hurt.”
He further thanked all the teams involved in the search and rescue efforts this week.
