Body of climber from Colorado recovered from Bolivian peak

LA PAZ, Bolivia — The assemblage of an American antheral who died portion climbing 1 of Bolivia’s highest peaks arrived Sunday successful the country’s superior aft a two-day betterment effort.

Rescue workers said Daniel Granberg, 24, died atop the Illimani mountain.

“We recovered Daniel lifeless, seated astatine the summit. His lungs did not clasp out; helium couldn’t get up to continue,” said Sergio Condori Vallejos, a upland usher who works with Bolivian Andean Rescue and who led the betterment effort.

Condori said Granberg died astatine an altitude of 20,391 feet connected the 2nd time of a trek crossed the mountain, an iconic portion of the presumption from Bolivia’s capital, La Paz. He was connected the longest and astir hard way crossed the mountain, which progressive scaling astatine slightest 2 of its peaks.

Granberg had arrived successful Bolivia 2 months agone and had climbed respective different peaks.

On his travel up Illimani, helium was accompanied by 2 guides who sought assistance from rescuers, who needed 2 days to bring the assemblage down the mountain.

His assemblage was brought to a morgue astatine a infirmary successful La Paz, according to members of the section occurrence department.

He died from high-altitude pulmonary distress, said his parent Jean Granberg. He had immoderate shortness of enactment the nighttime earlier and a mild headache, she said, but thing to bespeak his beingness was successful peril.

Granberg grew up surrounded by mountains successful Montrose and graduated with a mathematics grade from Princeton University, wherever helium besides sang tenor successful assorted groups.

His parent described him arsenic a warm-hearted, well-traveled and adventurous young antheral who had friends each implicit the world, and their heartfelt condolences were buoying her and his younger sister Jennifer Granberg.

Jean Granberg said she knows that her lad was doing what helium loved erstwhile helium died.

“But I, conscionable arsenic a mom, my heart’s broken. Twenty-four years is not agelong capable and I conscionable privation someway there’d been immoderate benignant of warning,” she said, crying. “If helium had felt similar helium was successful information successful immoderate way, helium would person travel down the mountain. But I deliberation it happened truthful fast.”

Her lad was a subcontractor who worked arsenic a distant programmer for the U.S. Department of Energy, his parent said. He taught himself physics due to the fact that his precocious schoolhouse did not person a programme and received the apical people connected the Advanced Placement exam, she said.

“He was the smartest idiosyncratic that I knew,” Jennifer Granberg said.

Tracy Lightsey, 1 of Daniel’s precocious schoolhouse teachers and aboriginal a friend, organized a fundraiser connected GoFundMe to assistance the family. As of Sunday afternoon, much than $21,000 had been raised.

“The effect from radical is wholly due to the fact that this young antheral was an unthinkable quality and helium touched radical wherever helium was,” Lightsey said.