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Colorado Man Dies In Fall On Glacier In Rocky Mountain National Park

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Published Date

July 13, 2012

A Colorado man descending a glacier in Rocky Mountain National Park with friends was killed when he slipped and slid about 100 feet down a glacier.

According to park officials, the 47-year-old man from Castle Rock was heading down Andrews Glacier on Thursday afternoon when he fell and slid into some rocks. Rangers were alerted to the incident by a cellphone call, and a trail crew in the area reached the man's body at 3:35 p.m.

Andrews Glacier is above Loch Vale in the Glacier Gorge area of the park. It is roughly 5 miles from the Glacier Gorge Trailhead.

The victim's body was flown to a helispot in Glacier Basin Campground at 6:15 p.m. His body was then transferred to the Larimer County Coroner. The man's name will be released after next-of-kin are notified.

Also on Thursday, park dispatchers received a 911 call that a 79-year-old male from Ballwin, Missouri, was showing symptoms of a significant medical emergency. He was one mile from the Lumpy Ridge Trailhead on the Gem Lake Trail. Rangers reached the man at noon. He was carried out on a litter to the trailhead then driven in an Estes Park Medical Center ambulance to a nearby meadow, where St. Anthony Flight for Life was waiting to fly the man to Boulder Community Hospital.

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