Search crews found a collapsed tent near Lake Ann on Tuesday belonging to two missing Colorado Mountain College students, but neither Kaden Matsuda, 19, nor Jackson Donlon, 20, has been located. The discovery came four days after the pair left campus to hike into Chaffee County, and just as searchers warn that a closing weather window is complicating the hunt for them.
Matsuda and Donlon left campus on October 23 to hike in the area, according to krdo.com. Friends and family told the station the two planned to return Saturday if conditions felt unsafe, or Sunday if they pushed on toward Ice Mountain, a technical route in northern Chaffee County, according to The Denver Post. When the students never returned, Colorado Mountain College staff reported their absence to the sheriff's office at 10 a.m. Monday, per Heart of the Rockies Radio.
Deputies located Matsuda's vehicle near the Mount Huron trailhead off County Road 390 near Winfield, the station's report states. Snowfall totals varied sharply by elevation: about eight inches covered the area near the vehicle and the lower basin, while Ice Mountain itself received one to two feet, per the same account. A separate report from koaa.com put the mountain's snowfall at up to two feet by Saturday night, with some spots seeing three to four feet due to sluffing and drifting.
A Tent Crushed by Snow, But No Human Tracks
A helicopter spotted an object near Lake Ann around noon Tuesday that search teams identified as the hikers' tent, which had collapsed under the weight of the snow, krdo.com reported. Inside, crews found sleeping bags, a camp stove and some clothing, but not the two men. The sheriff's office noted there was no snow beneath the tent and no visible footprints around it, suggesting the camp had been set up before the heaviest snowfall arrived.
Search and rescue crews and dogs combed the area on Monday and found no human footprints in the fresh snow, the station's report notes. Fifty searchers from multiple agencies returned to the field Tuesday, deploying aircraft, helicopters, infrared-equipped drones and search dogs, but neither hiker turned up. Crews are also weighing other destinations the men might have been heading toward instead of Ice Mountain, the outlet reported.
Sheriff Cites Hikers' Training as Grounds for Hope
Chaffee County Sheriff Andy Rohrich said the window of opportunity was closing as all available resources were being pushed into the field, according to The Denver Post. He said he remained optimistic the pair were sheltered and awaiting rescue, pointing to their training: Matsuda is studying to become a wildland firefighter, while Donlon is studying to become a mountain guide, krdo.com reported. Friends and family described both men as experienced hikers who should have had appropriate clothing for the conditions, per koaa.com.
Heart of the Rockies Radio reported that the search window was closing ahead of more poor weather expected later this week, even as officials held onto hope the hikers were sheltering somewhere nearby. The urgency echoes a past Chaffee County search in the same stretch of backcountry: Nathrop hiker Terry Pann, 60, went missing in 2020 after apparently setting out alone near the Three Apostles from the Lake Ann trailhead, according to The Mountain Mail. That search drew Chaffee County Search and Rescue teams, REACH air medical service and Western Mountain Rescue, with crews covering the Three Apostles Trail, North Apostle, Ice Mountain and West Apostle before rain and low cloud cover temporarily halted ground operations, the paper reported.
