Climber Kip Ryan White died of severe head injuries after falling approximately 400 feet Monday in a steep, rocky chute on the Maroon Bells near Aspen.
Pitkin County Coroner Steve Ayers said White also suffered multiple traumas from the long fall, which injured his son, who was climbing with him.
The two experienced climbers had been descending the mountain in bad weather when the accident happened.
White, 49, and his son, Jordan Cole White, 19, were roped together, and the father was lowering his son when they fell.
Ayers said the son didn’t know how the rope was anchored.
Jordan White landed about 40 feet above his father and was knocked unconscious.
After coming to and determining that his father was dead, he hiked out with a broken leg and multiple contusions on Tuesday and drove himself to the hospital.
The Whites were known as experienced climbers who had topped most of the 14,000-foot mountains in Colorado.
A friend said he did not know if they previously had climbed the Maroon Bells, which are called the “Deadly Bells” around Aspen because they have claimed about 10 lives in the past 20 years.
White owned an environmental consulting business in Lakewood and was a musician in his spare time.
“He was passionate about life,” said Bill Brown, a vice president at White’s KRW Consulting.
Services for White will be Saturday at St. James Presbyterian Church in Littleton.
Staff writer Nancy Lofholm can be reached at 970-256-1957 or nlofholm@denverpost.com.
