2 college students missing after a snowstorm hit Colorado mountain

Two Colorado college students remained missing on Wednesday after they left campus for a weekend trip up a nearly 14,000-foot peak and encountered a heavy snowstorm, police said.

Kaden Matsuda, 19, from Ridgway, Colorado, and Jackson Donlon, 20, from New York, left Colorado Mountain College Leadville’s campus on Friday and didn’t return. They told family and friends they planned to go up Ice Mountain, which requires technical climbing, according to the county sheriff’s office.

They were expected back by Sunday, and college staff reported them missing Monday morning. About 60 search and rescue volunteers, aided by helicopters, drones and dogs, are searching for them.

The helicopter crew on Tuesday discovered a tent collapsed under the snow with their sleeping bags, a stove and clothing near a lake northwest of Ice Mountain — but the students were nowhere to be found.

Based on the tent’s location, officials said they were aiming for the 13,597-foot West Apostle Mountain, which is not far from Ice Mountain.

Friends and family described both as experienced hikers and climbers.

Matsuda is studying to become a wildland firefighter, and Donlon is studying to become a mountain guide, Chaffee County Sheriff Andy Rohrich said in a post on social media.

Investigators didn’t find their climbing gear in their dorms, vehicle or tent, suggesting they had taken it with them for the ascent, the sheriff’s office said.

Authorities have expanded search areas but expect poor weather beginning Friday that could limit aerial searches for several days.

“We are proud of these young men concerning how prepared they were, but sometimes mother nature throws you a curveball,” Rohrich said, referring to the storm dropping over a foot of snow in the area on Saturday.

While the “window of opportunity” to find the duo is closing, “hope is not lost by family and friends, nor us,” Rohrich said.

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Yu reported from Phoenix.