Father on Climbing Trip With Son Falls to His Death

A father-son climbing trip in the Cascade Mountains turned tragic last week when Robert Jake Colburn apparently slipped and fell several hundred feet to his death. The 60-year-old from Dallas was descending Washington state's Aasgard Pass Thursday with three other people when he got ahead of the group, NBC News reports. When he failed to return to base camp that night, his 23-year-old son called a regional dispatch. The next day, his body was found by members of Chelan County search and rescue teams who flew in via helicopter, NCWLife.com reports.

The pass is 7,800 feet in elevation at its highest point, and Colburn's body, which was recovered and transported to the nearby Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery, was found at around 7,300 feet. The Washington Trails Association notes the "punishing" route rises almost 2,000 feet in just three-quarters of a mile, and can be "treacherous." KOMO News reports it was icy when Colburn's body was found, though authorities can't confirm the ice contributed to his fall. (More mountain climbing stories.)