Estimated read time: 2-3 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 Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information.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.
SPANISH FORK — Utah County Search and Rescue teams rescued a 39-year old Spanish Fork man, who was hurt and stranded on a remote mountainside overnight.
Officers received a call at about 8:30 a.m. Sunday from a camper that heard the man calling for help just above Spanish Oaks Reservoir.
Search and rescue found the man about a quarter of a mile up the mountain and about 200 feet above the trail.
Sgt. Eldon Packer from the Utah County Sheriff's Office said three different teams, about 30 people total, are worked to get the man back to the trail and off the mountain.
"The terrain that he was on was very steep," said Utah County Search and Rescue member Greg Beveridge.
Crews set up a lowering system with ropes to lower the man down off the hill to bring him back onto the trail.
"It was very brushy towards the bottom so it was problematic picking our way through the brush and that," Beveridge said.
Once they got him back on the trail, crews carried him down on a litter the rest of the way where an ambulance was waiting at the trailhead.
The man was taken to the hospital to be treated.
Packer said the man was not prepared to stay overnight, so he was exposed to the weather.
"He was a little dehydrated and also a little hypothermic," Packer said. "Had he been out there for a much longer period of time, he definitely could have had some real trouble."
Authorities say, they don't know what the man was doing up the trail but they say he may have been intoxicated.
We're getting into fall, the weather's changing," Packer said. "Lesson learned, be prepared for the elements because you never know when you may have to spend the night."
Packer said the man was very lucky that someone was out this morning and heard the man's calls for help.
"It's not cold, but it's cool. And if you're laying on the ground and getting wet, hypothermia is still a factor," Packer said.
