For the second day in a row, lightning killed a visitor at Rocky Mountain National Park and injured the victims’ companions.
The identify of the man killed Saturday has not been released.
The woman killed in Friday’s lightning strike was Rebecca R. Teilhet, 42, from Yellow Springs, Ohio, according to a news release from park spokeswoman Kyle Patterson.
Previously, the last lightning fatality that occurred in the park was in 2000, when a technical climber was struck on the Diamond on Longs Peak.
Saturday’s incident occurred shortly before 4 p.m., when rangers were notified of a lightning strike near Rainbow Curve, at 10,829 feet along Trail Ridge Road. Four people were injured and taken to Estes Park Medical Center, where one man was pronounced dead, Patterson said.
About 1:20 p.m. Friday, the park staff was notified of a lighting strike on the Ute Crossing Trail on Trail Ridge Road at roughly 11,400 feet, between Rainbow Curve and Forest Canyon Overlook.
Eight people suffered various injuries from that strike. They were hiking back to the trailhead when lightning hit, roughly 500 yards from the trailhead, Patterson said.
An air ambulance was able to land between cycles of severe weather but Teilhet, 42, died at the scene. She was hiking with her husband and a friend, who were taken by ambulance to Estes Park Medical Center.
The other five victims were part of a local hiking group and transported themselves to the Estes Park Medical Center, Patterson said.
Various parts of Colorado reported severe weather Saturday. A tornado touched down in El Paso County, but no injuries were reported, and hail pelted parts of Pueblo County.
Lynn Bartels: 303-954-5327, lbartels@denverpost.com or twitter.com/lynn_bartels