跟进：科罗拉多州两名大学生坠亡调查公布：绳降锚点灾难性失效、两人当场死亡
美国科罗拉多州查菲县警长办公室与县验尸官办公室11月3日公布调查结果：10月下旬在西使徒山被发现遗体的两名大学生 Kaden Matsuda（19岁，来自科罗拉多州 Ridgway）与 Jackson Donlon（20岁，来自纽约州 Queensbury），是在绳降时所用锚点发生灾难性失效后坠落身亡，尸检显示两人死于多处钝性损伤、系当场死亡。
两人都是科罗拉多山地学院 Leadville 校区的学生，10月23日出发进行周末登山行程后未归，搜救人员10月28日在西使徒山山坳的积雪盆地中发现两人的遗体，遗体于次日运下山。11月2日在 El Paso 县进行的尸检确定了死因。
调查人员还原的经过是：Donlon 当时正从一处设在岩石上的主锚点开始绳降，该锚点另有岩钉与一套备用锚点加固，Matsuda 则通过个人锚定装置连在同一组锚点上。锚点随后发生原因不明的灾难性失效，两人随之坠落了相当大的距离，具体距离不明。
声明说，当时袭击科罗拉多山区的强降雪天气是否对事故起到了负面作用尚不清楚，但可以确定暴风雪不是两人死亡的直接原因。查菲县警长 Andy Rohrich 说，两人为这次出行作了准备，对山地活动有很强的理解。西使徒山属于 Three Apostles 山体，靠近海拔13,958英尺的 Ice Mountain。
关联：科罗拉多州查菲县西使徒山山坳发现两名失踪大学生遗体：19岁与20岁科罗拉多山地学院学生10月23日出发登山遇暴风雪
（来源：科罗拉多州查菲县警长办公室）
Investigation into Two Colorado Students' Fatal Fall: Rappelling Anchor Suffered Catastrophic Failure, Both Died Instantly
The Chaffee County Sheriff's Office and the Chaffee County Coroner's Office in Colorado released their investigation findings on Nov. 3: the two college students found dead below West Apostle Mountain in late October, Kaden Matsuda, 19, of Ridgway, Colorado, and Jackson Donlon, 20, of Queensbury, New York, died in a fall after the anchor they were using to rappel suffered a catastrophic failure. Autopsies found both died of multiple blunt force injuries and that their deaths were instant.
Both were students at Colorado Mountain College's Leadville campus. They set out on Oct. 23 for a weekend climbing trip and did not return; searchers found their bodies on Oct. 28 in a snow-filled basin below West Apostle Mountain, and the bodies were recovered the following day. Autopsies performed on Nov. 2 in El Paso County established the cause of death.
Investigators reconstructed the accident as follows: Donlon was beginning to rappel from a primary anchor point set on rock, backed up by a piton and a secondary anchor, while Matsuda was attached to the same anchor points through his personal anchor device. The anchor then suffered a catastrophic failure of unknown cause, and both fell a substantial distance, the exact distance unknown.
The statement said it was unknown whether the severe snowstorm that struck the Colorado mountains had a negative impact leading to the incident, but the storm was not a direct contributing factor in their deaths. Chaffee County Sheriff Andy Rohrich said the two students had prepared for their trip and showed a strong understanding of mountain activities. West Apostle Mountain is part of the Three Apostles massif, near the 13,958-foot Ice Mountain.
(Source: Chaffee County Sheriff's Office, Colorado)
来源：科罗拉多州查菲县警长办公室
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：图：从 Huron 峰望向西使徒山。照片：jokermanj，CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: West Apostle Mountain seen from Huron Peak. Photo by jokermanj, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
GSM Global · 本篇英文版 English edition of this story
