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Sam Penrod ReportingThe long Memorial Day weekend is already proving to be a dangerous one. This afternoon, a rock climber fell 30 feet, requiring a harrowing rescue in Big Cottonwood Canyon.
The victim, a 29-year old man, was airlifted to the hospital in serious condition. He was conscious. The rescue took about two hours, because of the rough area he fell in.
The man was hiking with three friends, when somehow he lost his footing and fell about 30 feet. It happened just before 1:00 this afternoon. No one in the group had a cell phone so two friends stayed with the victim while the other one ran to the highway for help.
Search and Rescue responded, but it took quite some time for them to get to the victim because of the steep, rocky area he was in. Searchers call it a complicated, but successful rescue.
Steve Achelis, Salt Lake County Search: "It was difficult because he was mid-face on the mountain, maybe 20 feet off the ground. So we had to get both medics and rescuers up to him. We did package him into a litter, sort of a back-boarding litter, to stabilize his injuries. Had climbers go up above and secure the ropes. And then we lowered him down off of the rock climb. We did six more lowers of 200 feet, coming down steep rock fields."
The victim suffered a serious head injury in the fall. Fortunately, he was wearing a helmet, or his condition would likely have been much worse.
Searchers are warning recreationists to be extremely cautious this weekend, especially around water.
