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ZION NATIONAL PARK — Officials have identified the 24-year-old man who died Saturday after falling 100 feet in Zion National Park.
Brian Artmann, from Henderson, Nevada, was attempting to hike Heaps Canyon with three other friends, the National Park Service said in a press release Tuesday. He fell about 100 feet around 7 p.m. on Saturday night. One friend descended and stayed with him while the other two went to get help. They were unable to get out and find help until almost 11:30 p.m.
Heaps Canyon is a "strenuous, challenging, technical" canyon that takes anywhere from 12 to 20 hours to complete, the NPS said, with a 3,000-foot descent. The climb consists of many rappels into cold water and ends with a 280-foot rappel to the Upper Emerald Pool.
After interviewing the other climbers, officials discovered the climbers thought they were at a section of the canyon that didn't require anchoring. The NPS said Artmann was unroped when he fell.
A 16-person rescue team recovered the body Sunday morning, with the help of a helicopter.
There have been 57 search-and-rescue calls this year, 32 more than for the same period in 2014. In the past week, the park has responded to at least 16 emergency calls, including carrying three people out of the Narrows last Wednesday, according to Zion spokeswoman Aly Baltrus.
Contributing: Dennis Romboy, McKenzie Romero
