The community is mourning the loss of two climbers, Jack “Andrew” Skipper and Andrew Tyler Sikes, who died last week in separate backcountry incidents near Aspen. 

The Pitkin County Coroner officially released the identities of the deceased in a press release issued on Thursday.  

The two tragedies occurred within just days of each other. On Sept. 2, the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office was notified that a climber had yet to return from a trip believed to be in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness. Mountain Rescue Aspen located the deceased climber that day, in what a press release described as “a steep fully southeast of Maroon Peak in an area known as the Y Couloir.” 

The body of Skipper, 68, of Santa Fe, Tenn., was recovered on Sept. 8 in a joint operation between Mountain Rescue Aspen and a helicopter from the Utah Department of Public Safety. The crew conducted the mission in “highly technical terrain.”

According to the release issued by the Pitkin County Coroner’s Office, Skipper’s cause of death was multiple blunt force injuries, and the manner of death was an accident. His family has been notified and kept informed throughout the investigation.

Then, on Sept. 6, the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office discovered that a climber had fallen on the north face of Castle Peak, south of Aspen. When Mountain Rescue Aspen reached the climber just before 4 p.m, he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Sikes, 37, was from Westminster, Colo. His cause of death was multiple blunt force injuries, and the manner of death was an accident, according to the release. His body was recovered from the mountain that day. 

“The Pitkin County Coroner’s Office extends its appreciation to Mountain Rescue Aspen, CareFlight of the Rockies, Flight for Life, and the Utah Department of Public Safety Aero Bureau for their assistance with these incidents,” the release states. “And for their efforts to safely conduct operations in challenging backcountry terrain.”