THOUSAND OAKS : Man, 59, Dies in Climbing Accident
A Thousand Oaks man plunged to his death in an Arizona mountain-climbing accident, authorities said Friday.
James Newton Watts, 59, had been climbing Tillotson Peak in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in southern Arizona with several friends Thursday morning, Pima County Sheriff’s Sgt. David Allen said.
Allen said Watts apparently climbed ahead of his companions, who could not find him when they reached the peak.
Watts’ body was discovered in a ravine about 100 feet below later that morning, he said.
“He was dead by the time they got to him,” Allen said. A helicopter was needed to take his body off the mountain, he said.
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