PITKIN COUNTY, Colo. — A Denver woman has died after falling nearly 1,000 feet while climbing Capitol Peak Saturday.
The Pitkin County Sheriff's Office said in a release that dispatchers received a call just before 8 a.m. from a man who reported that he had seen a woman fall 1,500 to 2,000 feet from below the summit of Capitol Peak into Pierre Lakes Basin. The witness said the woman, who was climbing alone, fell after the rock she was trying to grab onto gave way.
Mountain Rescue Aspen (MRA) volunteers responded and estimated that the woman had fallen about 900 feet.
The woman's body was recovered at around 2:45 p.m., the sheriff's office said, and turned over to the Pitkin County coroner. Her name is being withheld until her next of kin have been notified.
Capitol Peak is a mountain with an elevation of 14,137 feet in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness area about 14 miles west of Aspen. It's considered one of Colorado's most difficult mountains to climb.
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