Westchester Boy, 11, Dies In Ice Climbing Accident

CHAPPAQUA, NY — The Chappaqua community is mourning the death of an 11-year-old who fell Saturday while hiking in the Catskills with his father. The Greene County Sheriff's Office said the boy fell 300 feet down ice-covered ledges in the Indian Head Wilderness Area of the Catskill State Park near a popular ice climbing location known as the "Dark Side."

The boy, Mattias Edstrom, "had been ice climbing with a group which included his father, two other children aged 13 and 15, and three other adults. As they were walking out on a portion of a trail that was equipped with a hand line, the 11 year old victim lost his footing, slipped and fell," the Greene County Sheriff's Office said on Facebook.

Edstrom is the son of New Castle Town Supervisor Ivy Pool, The Journal News reported.

He was a sixth-grader at Robert E. Bell Middle School. Principal Martin Fitzgerald said counselors would be available for students and staff grieving the loss.

"Mattias was a brilliant, kind and loving young man," he said. "We are all so profoundly sad to have lost him and our thoughts are with his family."

The Sheriff's Office was assisted by Hunter Police Department, New York State Police, NYS Forest Rangers, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Police, The Twin Cloves Rope Rescue Team, Hunter Ambulance and Greene County Paramedics.

Editor's Note: The boy died in an ice-climbing accident, according to the Greene County Sheriff's Office. Patch regrets that the original version of this report was unclear about the police statement.