Jeff Deardorff Dies While Climbing Crestone Peak In Sangre De Cristo Mountains
CUSTER COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) -- A man who went hiking in the Sangre De Cristo Wilderness last Friday has been found dead. Several teams with the Custer County Search and Rescue spent three days looking for Jeff Deardorff with an active aerial team.
Deardorff summited the Crestone Needle around noon on Friday and then wasn't heard from again. Friends had found his car near the trail head and alerted authorities. A friend told CBS4 that Deardorff fell during the descent.
According to friends Deardorff was an experienced climber who had summited the majority of 14ers in Colorado -- and had also climbed mountains in Mexico and Ecuador.