BOULDER, Colo. -- Greg Tracy says the memory of his dear friend Erik Kleiber will always surround him.
“I live down the street and I can see the First Flatiron from my house and I can see it from where I work,” Tracy said.
The First Flatiron in Chautauqua Park is where Erik Kleiber passed away.
“He loved climbing, he loved adrenaline,” Tracy said.
Investigators say 31-year-old Erik Kleiber died when he fell while climbing last Thursday. Kleiber’s death is the second in less than three months. A 17-year-old died climbing the same mountain.
Kleiber’s death comes as a shock to the people who knew him at the Frasier Meadows Retirement Community where he worked. Kleiber worked as a chef at the retirement home where he met Tracy.
“I think people loved him. He had a conversation for everybody and his heart was open to everybody,” Tracy said.
Tracy says his friendship will always be cherished and remembered every time he glances at the mountains.
“That First Flatiron, it's almost like his tombstone. You never have to go too far to remember,” Tracy said.
Erik Kleiber had just moved from Iowa and practiced climbing at a climbing gym. According to our news partners at the Denver Post, before these two deaths, the last time there was a fatal accident was in 2008.