{"id":18817,"date":"2026-11-05T12:31:12","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T12:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=18817"},"modified":"2026-11-05T12:31:12","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T12:31:12","slug":"after-student-deaths-colleges-look-at-outdoor-recreation-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=18817","title":{"rendered":"After Student Deaths, Colleges Look at Outdoor Recreation Safety"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Published November 5, 2026 05:23AM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The small Colorado Mountain College community in Leadville is in mourning<\/a> after two of its students\u201419-year-old Kaden Matsuda and 20-year-old Jackson Donlon\u2014died in late October when their climbing anchor failed during their descent of\u00a0West Apostle Mountain.<\/p>\n

While investigators emphasized that the pair took extensive safety precautions, their deaths come amid a string of recent high-profile outdoor accidents involving college students.<\/p>\n

A 21-year-old with the University of Cincinnati\u2019s Mountaineering Club was found dead on October 12 after he slipped while crossing a stream<\/a> during a trip in West Virginia. A 19-year-old wrestler at a California community college also fell to his death<\/a> while hiking on September 20 in Yosemite National Park. In Kentucky, nine college students from Indiana and Illinois called search-and-rescue officials<\/a> after they became stranded on a trail called Indian Staircase on August 15. That same month,\u00a0four college students from New Jersey were rescued<\/a> in New Hampshire after departing late and getting caught by nightfall. In January,\u00a0a helicopter rescued three\u00a0college-aged hikers<\/a> from Utah\u2019s Mount Olympus<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Andy Millick owns Sharp End Rescue<\/a>, a search-and-rescue training company in northern Vermont. He told Outside<\/em> that many outdoor hobbies have a learning curve\u2014from mastering basics like what to bring or how to pack a backpack to developing map-reading and weather-monitoring skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people grow up in a world that doesn\u2019t have access to those experiences,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Younger people\u00a0sometimes\u00a0venture into the backcountry without adequate preparation, the proper equipment, or familiarity with the\u00a0terrain, he said.\u00a0They may also lack the experience and judgment to recognize and avoid unnecessary risks. As Millick noted, they don\u2019t always fully understand the prep work that it will require.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s [sometimes] a miss in all the preparation it takes to really have fun,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s where people start getting into trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n

Putting Training to the Test<\/h2>\n

On October 18, Millick helped rescue a 19-year-old hypothermic college student<\/a> in the middle of the night on a remote section of the Long Trail in Vermont. The hiker\u00a0was on a student-led club outing, and when trouble hit, the group acted quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201c[They] got him in a sleeping bag with more layers, got another student in that sleeping bag as well to share some body heat, put sleeping pads underneath him to keep him off the ground,\u201d Millick said.<\/p>\n

But hypothermia can advance rapidly.<\/p>\n

\u201c[They did] all the right things at that point,\u201d Millick said. \u201cUnfortunately, the tricky thing with hypothermia is once somebody starts to get cold, it takes a long time to get them warm again.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group contacted a faculty advisor for additional help and called 911 as the sick student went in and out of consciousness. When first responders arrived in the early morning hours, they continued warming the student with additional measures, including a heated blanket. By morning, the student had improved enough to walk out with the rescue team\u2019s help.<\/p>\n

Millick said it made a huge difference that the trip leader had a Wilderness First Responder certification, an 80-hour course that teaches backcountry survival skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey learned so much more coming away from that and utilizing the skills that they had been taught and seeing, \u2018Hey, this stuff is real, and it does work,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n