RMNP officials: Fort Collins man who died hiking took tumbling fall, died instantly

Sady Swanson | The Coloradoan

Show Caption Hide Caption Here's how RMNP is searching for Brian Perri The incident commander leading the search strategy for the missing Fort Collins man explains the search strategy they're using to find him.

Rocky Mountain National Park officials believe the Fort Collins man who went missing after climbing Mount Meeker on June 30 died after taking a tumbling fall off a steep, nearly vertical drop off.

Brian Perri's body, which was found on the southwest side of the summit of Mount Meeker on Saturday evening by a park ranger, was taken off the mountain by helicopter Tuesday morning.

The Boulder County Coroner's Office will confirm the identification of the body and the cause and date of death after an autopsy is completed. However, park officials believe Perri took an approximately 25 to 40 foot fall and died instantly, according to a Rocky Mountain National Park news release.

According to the park, a ranger responded to a personal GPS tracking device from a visitor recreating in the area Saturday afternoon. While they looked for the source of the GPS device, a ranger discovered Perri's body.

He was found downhill and southwest — not northwest as the park previously reported — of the photo he had texted a friend at the summit of the mountain June 30. He was above treeline at the base of a steep, nearly vertical drop off with large boulders and loose rocks, park officials said.

"Unfortunately, the steep terrain, angle, sheer size of the rocks and boulders as well as the coloring of his tan and green clothing made it extremely difficult to see him," park officials said in a news release.

Park spokeswoman Kyle Patterson said this was the longest search the park has conducted for a missing visitor in 15 years, but they have had several other multiday searches.

'I didn't want that mountain to be my best friend's grave'

For the past month, JC Fischer has spent most days on and around Mount Meeker searching for Perri, his best friend.

Fischer said he isn't an experienced hiker like 38-year-old Perri — he had never actually climbed a mountain in Colorado before this — and the more than 200 miles he hiked over the past month took a toll on his body.

Saturday's search pushed him over the edge; his feet and leg injuries were too much to bear, and he decided he wouldn't go back up and search.

"I didn't want that mountain to be my best friend's grave, and I was going to hike until my body broke or until he was found," Fischer said. "And it just so happened that both of those happened on the same day.

"So I guess it was kind of a blessing," he continued. "I didn't have to go out again, and I didn't have to sit that home thinking I should be out."

While Fischer said he is "sad to know that he's gone," he feels better knowing that family and friends won't be left wondering where Perri is.

"It's obviously a sense of closure, " Fischer said. "Closure, grief and I guess a small sense of happiness knowing that he died doing what he absolutely loved to do."

Perri went to hike Mount Meeker to celebrate completing his master's thesis at Colorado State University, his friend Jane Kurtz Williams said. Perri was studying radiological and health sciences in CSU's College of Veterinary Medicine.

"Like everyone, we hoped for a different outcome in the search for Brian, and it is with sadness that we receive the news of his death," CSU spokeswoman Dell Rae Ciaravola said in an email. "Our thoughts are with all who are impacted by this loss, and we extend our deepest and heartfelt sympathy to Brian’s family and friends."

Fischer wasn't alone on the mountain most days. He said about 50 people — some friends but mostly strangers — met him at the trailhead to help him search for Perri.

"That was phenomenal," Fischer said. "(They came out) to help search for somebody they didn't know, with somebody they didn't know, under somebody they didn't know."

Fischer said he asked some of the strangers who volunteered why they were doing this, and many answered that they hoped someone would do the same for them.

"I am definitely grateful for the people that went out there to look for him," Fischer said.

MORE ON THIS STORY

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►Timeline: How crews in Rocky Mountain National Park have been searching for missing Fort Collins man

►Friend of man missing in Rocky Mountain National Park vows to find him

►Fort Collins man missing in Rocky Mountain National Park is a CSU student, avid hiker

On July 5, Fort Collins Police Service Lt. Dean Cunningham said officers responded to Perri's house on a welfare check after a friend asked for help contacting him. Perri was listed as missing that day, and a "Be On the Look Out," or BOLO, was issued to law enforcement agencies statewide.

Later that day, Rocky Mountain National Park crews located Perri's car in the parking lot of Sandbeach Lake trailhead, and the search for him began that evening. The only clue search crews had to go off of was the photo of Perri at the summit of Mount Meeker he sent to a friend on the East Coast.

Search and rescue teams, helicopters, dog teams and drones searched significant sections of a 22.5-square-mile area for Perri beginning July 5. The terrain was rugged and remote with loose rock, steep ridges and exposed cliffs, according to the park.

Crews have continued searching for Perri on the ground, analyzing drone footage and investigating tips since July 5.

Larimer County Search and rescue and dog teams, Rocky Mountain Rescue, Fort Collins police, Northern Colorado Helitack, Front Range Rescue Dogs, Flight for Life Air Ambulance and Colorado Search and Rescue board members aided RMNP in the search for Perri.

"He was a great friend, a great brother, a great uncle from what I've heard from his nieces," Fischer said. "He was just loved and cherished by the people around him."