Climber rescued from American Fork Canyon after 30-foot fall, broken leg

Utah County Sheriff's Search and Rescue and Lone Peak Fire responded to the scene early Saturday afternoon, May 2, 2020, after a climber fell and broke his leg in American Fork Canyon. Photo: Utah County SAR/Facebook

UTAH COUNTY, May 2, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — First responders rushed to the scene early Saturday afternoon after a climber fell and broke his leg in American Fork Canyon.

A call came to dispatch at about 12:45 p.m. saying the 27-year-old man needed assistance, Utah County Sheriff Sgt. Spencer Cannon told Gephardt Daily.

“He fell about 30 feet,” Cannon said. “He had a compound fracture just above one of his ankles.”

The accident happened at about milepost 12, a mile or so above the turnoff to Tibble Fork Reservoir, Cannon said.

In a Facebook post later Saturday, Utah County Search and Rescue said they were called out and teamed up with Lone Peak Fire, “who played a key role in bringing the patient to safety and mitigating a level of risk for all those involved.”

Utah County SAR said traffic to State Route 92 was shut down, and the medical and technical teams assessed the patient and brought him down to the river.

“From there, the patient was loaded into the waiting bucket on the Lone Peak tower and retrieved to the near side of the river and loaded into the waiting ambulance.”

Cannon said the rescue operation took nearly two hours.

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