Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Sam Penrod Reporting A man ice climbing in Provo Canyon fell hundreds of feet to his death today.
The victim is not originally from Utah, but has been residing here for awhile. His death today appears to be an accident, while he was ice climbing in Provo Canyon.
The man and his climbing partner were climbing this morning on this ice, just west of Bridal Veil Falls, in an area known ironically as the "Stairway to Heaven."
Exactly what happened is not known, whether the ice failed or it was an equipment malfunction, but somehow the man fell from the third tier of ice down to the second tier of ice, which amounts to more than 200-feet.
The victim was wearing protective clothing, but the fall was too much and he died before rescue crews could reach him.
Dennis Harris, Utah County Sheriff's Office: "We have a lot of professionals who come up here and ice climb, it's been a very popular spot for years, but at the same time we respond up here to a lot of injuries and so you just have to be extremely careful and make sure you have the right gear when you come up here."
Provo Canyon is known around the world for ice climbing. The steep and tall canyon wall, along with the waterfalls that create the ice and the fact that the sun never hits the ice during the winter, is what makes it so ideal. In fact at the time of today's accident, there were four climbers from Korea who were also on the ice.
Authorities say the victim was a very experienced ice climber. He was 32 years old.
