Police ID woman hiker who died in fall on Mount Olympus

Celeste Yang. Photo Courtesy: Facebook

SALT LAKE COUTY, Utah, Aug. 28, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — Police have identified the woman hiker who fell to her death on Mount Olympus on Sunday afternoon as Celeste Yang, 36, of Salt Lake City.

Unified Police Department spokesman Lt. Lex Bell said Yang and an unidentified man were hiking Mount Olympus when they got into a technical area off the designated trail.

“They were just hiking, not climbing,” Bell said. “But they got into an area where, maybe, they should have had ropes.”

The woman slipped and fell about 100 feet. The man she was hiking with called 911 at approximately noon.

“He was able to get down to her, and told dispatch she was dead,” said Bell.

A Life Flight helicopter was en route to the incident but started to have mechanical problems, so a state helicopter, used by the Utah Highway Patrol, flew to the scene with search and rescue crews aboard.

Yang was an avid outdoorswoman and was known to at least one member of the search and rescue crew who recently had gone hiking with her, Bell said.

Bell said there were 49 search and rescue missions in Salt Lake County in all of 2015. This year, from January 1 to Aug. 28, there have already been 42 search and rescue missions in Salt Lake County, with seven fatalities.

“It’s important to stay on the designated trails when hiking,” he said. “You’ll be safe if you stick to the trails.”

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