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BIRCH HOLLOW, Kane County — A canyoneering guide was hospitalized over the weekend after falling at least 75 feet during a rappelling excursion just east of Zion National Park Friday, authorities said.
The guide, a man whose name and age were not released, was leading a group of rappellers for Zion PondeRosa Resort on a series of rappels in Birch Hollow when he fell Friday afternoon, according to Kane County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Alan Alldredge.
The man hooked on to the wrong rope and fell anywhere from 75 to 100 feet into a puddle of mud at that the bottom of the canyon, Alldredge said. The group was able to call for help, and a search and rescue team was able to locate the man and stabilize his injuries.
Alldredge said the mud might have cushioned the man’s landing, which may have helped prevent more serious injuries.
However, by the time he was located, it was too dark for a Department of Public Safety helicopter to lift him out of the canyon, so a group of four search and rescue workers, including a nurse, stayed with him throughout the night before he could be rescued out of the canyon Saturday morning.
The man was eventually flown to Dixie Regional Medical Center in St. George, where Alldredge said he did not know the man’s condition.
