BIG COTTONWOOD CANYON, Utah, May 15, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — The Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue crew spent part of Friday night rescuing an injured climber stranded on Big Cottonwood Canyon at Narcolepsy Wall/Dream Slate.
Crews were called out at 10:11 p.m. on a rescue that would ultimately take more than three hours to safely complete.
“Two climbers had been climbing a route called Dream Slate in the dark with headlamps,” says the SLCSo SAR statement. “The first climber led the route and lowered off.
“The second climber followed and after climbing the route was cleaning the top anchors when his partner said he saw him free fall from the top and land in a large bush that potently broke his fall. The climber fell approximately 70 feet and sustained severe injuries.”
Unified Fire officials got to the patient first, and handled initial medical care.
“Search and Rescue members packaged and prepared to raise the patient about 40 feet uphill then lower the patient down the trail to the road,” the SAR statement says.
All teams were off the mountain by 1:30 a.m. Saturday, the statement says.
“The terrain from the base of the climb, down to the road was steep, rocky, and very loose making it difficult and slow. Because of the terrain, it took approximately 25 Search and Rescue members to extract this patient along with many Unified Fire Fighters and paramedics.”
“We wish our patient a speedy and full recovery!”
Anyone interested in donating to the all-volunteer SAR team can click this link.
