GRAND COUNTY, Utah, Nov. 28, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — Rescue crews helped two injured base jumpers near Moab on Wednesday and Sunday, helping the men with first-aid treatment on the scenes before transporting them by helicopter to a nearby medical center.
The Wednesday case involved a 37-year-old BASE jumper who suffered an open lower leg fracture after jumping from the Dragon’s Nest BASE exit point in the Fisher Towers area, east of Moab.
The man landed on a ledge near the base of the cliff below his exit point, at the top of a steep and rugged talus slope about 1,800 vertical feet above the Fisher Towers trailhead, says a statement issued by the Grand County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue crew.
The rescue operation took seven hours.
“A Classic Air Medical helicopter shuttled Grand County EMS medics and Grand County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue personnel and gear to the top of the cliff above the injured jumper and his companion, who had successfully flown to the accident site to render aid,” the statement says.
“Rescuers rigged a technical rope rescue system to lower a GCEMS paramedic 350 feet to the patient. The medic secured the patient on the ledge and the two were raised to the top of the cliff. The subject was flown by Classic to a regional hospital.”
A Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter was utilized to hoist the uninjured companion from the accident site to the staging area at the trailhead, the news release says. The DPS helicopter then shuttled SAR and EMS personnel back to the trailhead.
On Sunday, GCSAR and GCEMS were paged for another injured BASE jumper in the vicinity of Corral Canyon north of Moab. As GCEMS personnel and a Bureau of Land Management – Moab and Canyon Country Ranger arrived on scene, they learned the jumper had tumbled through a boulder field after a rough landing.
Bystanders were able to reach the injured jumper, who suffered wrist and ankle injuries, and carry him down a small slope to the dirt road. GCEMS was able to access the patient without assistance from the GCSAR team.
Each Thanksgiving week, BASE jumpers from around the world congregate in Moab for the annual fund-raising Turkey Boogie. Last year, GCSAR responded to five incidents during Thanksgiving week. The two calls last week brought GCSAR’s call volume to 114 for the year, down from 130 as of this time last year.
