Climber Tumbles To Death After Summitting Fourteener
Castellano Had Just Reached Peak At Snowmass Mountain
POSTED: 9:04 a.m. MDT August 18, 2003
UPDATED: 10:36 a.m. MDT August 18, 2003
Pitkin County sheriff's deputies are trying to decide when they can recover the body of a climber who tumbled to his death over the weekend.
Steve Castellano, 51, from Littleton, was killed on Saturday afternoon, after reaching the summit of 14,092-foot Snowmass Mountain. The avid outdoorsman fell 150 feet when a rockslide broke loose on a steep slope.
Bad weather and slick rocks prevented rescuers and a helicopter from recovering his body over the weekend.
Castellano and a friend, Bill Sudmeier of Denver, were coming down from the peak when Castellano placed his hand and leaned on a loose rock and the rock gave way, causing him to fall forward amidst the rockslide, Sudmeier said.
Castellano was an experienced climber who had
climbed more than half the state's 54 14,000-foot peaks, also known as fourteeners.
The Colorado native is survived by two daughters, ages 18 and 20.
Copyright 2003 by TheDenverChannel.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.







