As James Charles Patrick tumbled 1,000 feet down Taylor Glacier to his death Saturday morning, he pulled down a climbing rope, stranding his two companions on the “steep and treacherous” terrain near the 12,000-foot summit, the National Park Service said Sunday.
Patrick, 54, of Littleton is the fifth person killed in Rocky Mountain Natonal Park this year, a high mark for the popular location that many years sees no fatalities.
Public records show Patrick was a licensed master plumber and president of Cedar Gulch Plumbing in Littleton.
Park rangers had to rescue Patrick’s climbing partners, who have not been named, where they anchored themselves amid the loose rocks, ice and snow, according to the park.
Two park rangers needed nearly five hours to reach Patrick’s body, then they stayed with him overnight until he was airlifted out this morning.
The cause of his fall is under investigation. The body was turned over the Larimer County Coroner Sunday.
Taylor Glacier is located about 15 miles east of Grand Lake between Taylor Peak and Powell Peak, about 5 miles from the Bear Lake Trailhead.
Patrick is the 11th climber killed in Colorado this year. Though no one keeps formal records of climbing fatalities in Colorado, experts earlier this month said 10 could be a record.
Three of the park’s five deaths this year were on Longs Peak: John M. Regan of Witchita, Kan., on Sept. 25; University of Colorado student Benjamin Russell Hebb, 26, of Broomfield on Aug. 27; and Jeff Rosinski, 29, of Rhode Island on July 16.
July 25, the body of experienced backcountry skiier Lacy Elliot Meadows, 40, of Broomfield was found on a snowfield above Cony Lake near the southern boundary of the park, about 10 miles from the nearest trailhead.
The state’s peaks attract an estimated 500,000 climbers a year, according to the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative. Health statistics indicated at 1.1 persons per 100,000 people in Colorado is treated at a hospital for injuries related to falling from cliffs each year.
By comparison, 12.4 people per 100,000 are hospitalized annually due to falls from bicycles.
Staff writer Kyle Glazier contributed to this story.
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com
