An ice climber who was found dangling unconscious and alone on a rope the afternoon of Feb. 24 at the Ouray Ice Park was taken off life support and pronounced dead Thursday morning.
The climber was identified as Ryan Wong, 27, of Fort Collins.
The circumstances surrounding the accident are largely unknown.
Wong was found by two other climbers at about 3:30 p.m. in an area known as “South Park,” which is not visible from Box Canyon Road. The park closes at 4 p.m., and the rangers had already completed their walk through for the afternoon.
“If they hadn't seen him, he would have been found the next day probably by one of our rangers doing their walk at the start of the day,” said the park’s Executive Director Peter O’Neil.
The two climbers spotted Wong dangling unconscious from his rope.
Wong was climbing in a style known as top-rope soloing, which allows climbers to ascend a face alone with a rope in place to catch a fall. The climber secures a fixed line at the top of the climb and uses one or multiple progress capture devices to connect themselves to the rope. As the climber ascends, the device moves up the rope; if the climber falls, the device catches the rope, halting the climber’s fall.
Observations suggest that a progress capture device had arrested Wong’s fall, although it is unknown what events precipitated the fall or how far he had fallen before stopping.
Ouray County Emergency Medical Services and members of the Ouray Mountain Rescue Team responded to the call around 4 p.m. Rescuers performed lifesaving measures and were able to restore a pulse.
Paramedic and Ouray Mountain Rescue Lt. Ruth Stewart said responders took about one hour to hoist Wong out of Uncompahgre Gorge and carry him in a litter to an ATV, which took him to a waiting ambulance.
Wong was flown by helicopter to St. Mary's Medical Center in Grand Junction. He was declared brain-dead on Tuesday and taken off life support Wednesday by his parents so that his organs could be donated.
According to a news release from Ouray County, his liver and four other organs were donated to direct matches in need of vital organs.
Wong never regained consciousness, and so the exact details of what happened will never be known.
He was wearing a helmet when he was found, and Stewart said there was no indication, such as dents or cracks in the helmet, that he had been hit by falling ice.
“(There were) no obvious signs of anything,” Stewart said.
O’Neil said from the few details he knew, Wong did not have extensive experience.
Although ice can be unstable and ice climbing is a dangerous sport, Wong’s death is unusual given the absence of a clear cause.
“It’s hard to even learn from the accident because no one saw it happen,” he said. “No one did a diagnostic of his system after the fact; they were more interested in cutting them down and getting him on life support.”
rschafir@durangoherald.com
