A climber in Colorado was found dead Wednesday, and law enforcement officials said the man might have been "free soloing," or climbing without equipment, at the time of the incident.
The Boulder County Sheriff's Office received a call at around 5:45 p.m. on Wednesday from a group of four climbers who discovered the victim.
The sheriff's office said the group had been climbing on the Rincon wall in Eldorado Canyon State Park when they found him.
The climbers reported that the man wasn't conscious or breathing and "appeared to be deceased."
Fire and mountain rescue officials arrived on the scene and determined that the 31-year-old man from Lakewood, Colorado, was dead.
Law enforcement officials have yet to identify the climber, and the sheriff's office said his name "is being withheld pending positive identification and notification to the family."
"The incident was not deemed suspicious and there is no threat to the public," the sheriff's office stated.
In an email to Newsweek, the Boulder County Sheriff's Office also said it has "no further updates on the investigation at this time."
"The Boulder County Coroner's Office will be determining the cause and manner of death, as well as releasing the identification of the decedent," a spokesperson for the sheriff's office said.
The man was carried out of the park by officials with the Rocky Mountain Rescue Group. Authorities said the rescue took approximately three hours.
Expertclimbers.com describes free soloing as "is an extremely dangerous sport, one that has led to the untimely deaths of many experienced climbers."
"In a free solo climb, often called soloing, you're climbing cliffs without using any climbing equipment, save for your rock shoes and chalk bag. You're up there relying on your skills to climb to the top," the site stated.
In September, a man from Connecticut died while rock climbing in New York State. The man, Stephen M. Buda III, a 56-year-old firefighter, was climbing in the Mohonk Preserve and appeared to reach 150-175 feet when he fell, the Connecticut Post reported. Authorities said Buda was not wearing any climbing or safety equipment when he died.
Last month, two men from Baltimore, Mark Anthony Bacolod Stiles, 35, and Brandon Burns, 25, were killed during a climbing accident in the Spanish island of Mallorca, the Baltimore Sun reported. According to Jim Burns, Brandon's father, a rockslide knocked the two climbers into the water.
Local coast guard's efforts to revive the men were unsuccessful, said Jim Burns.
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