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Amanda Butterfield reporting A rock climber falls 30 feet in Big Cottonwood Canyon and lands on his head.
Lt. Chris Bertram/Salt Lake County Sheriff's Dept.: "It's a situation where they just ran out of rope as he came down."
The man was hiking up the canyon, on Storm Mountain, yesterday. It started as a beautiful afternoon to hike, but it quickly turned dangerous.
The 35-year-old man and a friend were top-roping-- the man was climbing above and his friend was belaying below.
Salt Lake County Sheriff's authorities say as the friend was letting the man down, he ran out of rope. The rope sped through the friend's hands, leaving the man with no support.
He fell 30 feet and landed on his head.
Lt. Chris Bertram/Salt Lake County Sheriff's Dept.: "He wasn't wearing a helmet. The protective gear was he was using ropes. The climber was an experienced climber, however the belayer was not experienced."
Search and rescue teams rushed to the scene. Paramedics stabilized the man and loaded him into a medical helicopter. He's in serious condition at LDS Hospital this morning.
Authorities are reminding all rock climbers to make sure the rope is plenty long. They say go up with double the rope to be safe.
Lt. Chris Bertram/Salt Lake County Sheriff's Dept.: "They just didn't calculate. He had enough rope to get up but coming down you're going to need twice the amount of rope. [They] were about 30 feet short."
Authorities say every year several rock-climbers fall in this canyon.
