Two Colorado College Students Found Dead After Going Missing on Rocky Mountains Hike

Two Colorado Mountain College students, Kaden Matsuda, 19, of Ridgway, Colorado, and Jackson Donlon, 20, of New York, were found dead Wednesday afternoon in a basin of West Apostle Mountain, the Chaffee County Sheriff's Office said. The location is about 100 miles southeast of Aspen. The pair left the college's Leadville campus on Friday, telling family and friends they planned to hike Ice Mountain, a nearly 14,000-foot peak that requires technical climbing. A heavy snowstorm hit the Rocky Mountains that weekend. They were expected back by Sunday, and college staff reported them missing Monday morning.

The sheriff's office said the causes of death are under investigation but foul play is not suspected, and that it will offer no theories until autopsies are completed. Sheriff Andy Rohrich said officials were proud of the effort to find the men before another storm arrived, called the outcome a gut punch, and said the discovery gave the families some closure.

The Guardian US, on the left, leads with the students being found dead after a hike and a storm, giving their ages and hometowns, the distance from Aspen and the technical difficulty of Ice Mountain, then the sheriff's statement. The Daily Mail, on the right, stresses the young ages and Ice Mountain "expedition" in its headline and adds search details: deputies and search and rescue crews checked the Winfield and Mt Huron trailhead area, found Matsuda's snow-covered vehicle and their tent, then the bodies lying next to each other. It also gives dates and times, including the October 23 departure and a report to the sheriff around 10 a.m. on October 26. Both outlets quote Rohrich and report no suspected foul play. The Guardian's excerpt gives hometowns and the distance from Aspen, which the Daily Mail's excerpt omits. NewsNation, in the alternative group, largely mirrors the Guardian's wording.