Rock slide kills Springs man climbing in southwest Colorado

A retired Army colonel and experienced mountain climber 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. Dempsey said the slide was likely triggered by hikers above Topp and his climbing partners.

The group had passed Organ Pipes and Gendarmes from El Diente Peak and had traversed a deep cut in the mountain to ascend a false summit when the rock slide began, said Charles Zimmerman, who was climbing with Topp and was injured by the falling rocks.

“He and I were climbing on a face, some other climbers were above us,” said Zimmerman, 60, of Montrose. “The next thing I knew, I was on the rocks 40 feet below and Peter was on the rock right above me, unconscious but breathing. I tried to revive him but I never could.”

Zimmerman, who broke at least one rib and needed several staples for a gash in his head, was released from the hospital Tuesday afternoon.

He and Topp grew up in military families, and had known each other most of their lives, meeting in the fifth grade when their parents were stationed in Germany. The two men climbed together frequently.

Regina Topp, Peter’s wife, said Peter had summited 45 fourteeners before this latest trip, and was always a safe climber. The two met in 1967, when both were in high school.

“He was so loving and funny — he always made me laugh,” said Peter’s 26-year-old daughter, Kristina Topp, who climbed nine fourteeners with her father. “He just loved the outdoors, loved the mountains and loved spending time with his family.”

Another climber, Kathy Donnely, 31, of Broomfield, also was injured in the rock slide, but is expected to recover, 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.