The body of a 66-year-old hiker was discovered Monday on the south side of Snowmass Mountain after a six-day search.
According to Gunnison County Undersheriff Rick Besecker, the victim has been identified as Jose Lopez of Glenwood Springs, an experienced hiker who had previously scaled several of Colorado’s fourteeners.
Initial reports suggest that Lopez fell at least 1,200 feet down an avalanche chute leading away from a point near the summit of the mountain. Besecker said that Lopez had written his name on the sign-in sheet at the top of the 14,092-foot peak and had probably slipped on his way back down.
“We’ve not reached the remains as of yet, but the outward appearance is extensive trauma consistent with such a fall,” Besecker said.
Lopez was reported missing Wednesday after he failed to return to his wife, who had been waiting for him at the bottom of the mountain since Tuesday.
Another hiker – Mark Golden, 32, of Arvada – was killed in almost the same spot last year, Besecker said.
Besecker said that, because of the unforgiving terrain, recovery of Lopez’s body would not begin until today.
Search-and-rescue teams initially spent time looking in the wrong area because Lopez’s wife thought he had headed toward the Geneva Lake and Lead King Basin area.
