PITKIN COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — A Denver woman was killed after falling 900 feet off Capitol Peak on Saturday morning.
According to the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office, the Pitkin County Regional Emergency Dispatch Center received a call at 7:56 a.m. on Saturday morning from a witness who said a woman fell below the summit of Capitol Peak.
The witness told deputies that they saw a woman hiking alone when she fell to her death after the rock she was holding onto gave way.
PCSO called Moutain Rescue Aspen to locate the woman’s body. Rescue crews estimated the woman fell approximately 900 feet off the route that connects the knife ridge to the Capitol Peak summit.
Teams from Mountain Rescue Aspen, C.B. Cameron Rescue Center, Flight for Life, EcoFlight and Montrose Helitack all assisted in recovering the woman’s body.
A team of four volunteers from Mountain Rescue Aspen hiked up to where the woman’s body was and prepared to extract her from the field. At 2:47 p.m., the woman’s body was flown out and transferred to the Pitkin County Coroner for further investigation.
Overall, 25 volunteers aided in the recovery, and everyone was out of the field at 3:54 p.m.
Capitol Peak is a 14,137-foot mountain that sits 14 miles west of Aspen. The 14er is considered one of the most difficult mountains to climb.