Pikes Peak Region Trail Finder

By JAKOB RODGERS, THE GAZETTE

A retired Army colonel from Colorado Springs died Monday in a rock slide while climbing between two 14,000-foot peaks in the San Juan Mountains.

Peter Topp, 59, was killed about 11:30 a.m. when rocks and boulders crashed down on him and two other people climbing between Mount Wilson and El Diente Peak, according to Bob Dempsey, of the San Miguel County Coroner's Office.

“They were caught in a rock slide and apparently the rock fall was triggered by hikers above them,” Dempsey said.

Kathy Donnely, 31, of Broomfield and Charlie Zimmerman, 60, of Montrose were both hospitalized with serious injuries. They were expected to live, Dempsey said.

The slide triggered a massive rescue effort that involved two helicopters, one of which was supplied by the Colorado National Guard, Dempsey said. Though rescuers were able to reach the climbers with relative ease, getting them down the mountain proved difficult.

“Extreme weather conditions hampered the efforts throughout the afternoon,” Dempsey said.

The slide triggered a massive rescue effort that involved two helicopters, one of which was supplied by the Colorado National Guard, Dempsey said. Though rescuers were able to reach the climbers with relative ease, getting them down the mountain proved difficult.

“Extreme weather conditions hampered the efforts throughout the afternoon,” Dempsey said.

Topp graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., in 1972. Classmate Dan Bappe, who graduated in the same class, remembers seeing Topp every day. Bappe said Topp was company commander his senior year, and always valued physical fitness.

“Pete was first of all a very good leader and a very good student, too,” Topp said. “He was fun to be around, truly cared about other people and treated everybody with respect.”

After retiring from the Army Corps of Engineers, Topp worked at Northern Command and graduated in 2006 from the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense and Security.

Topp also earned master’s degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, and the Army War College.

In lieu of flowers, Topp’s family asked that memorial donations be given to the National Park Foundation, Wounded Warriors, the Colorado Fourteeners Initative or local search and rescue groups.