ST. GEORGE — A mountain bike excursion through the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve with family and friends Saturday ended with a flight to the hospital for one man following a cycling accident.
The incident occurred around noon when an adult male crashed his mountain bike on a trail in the Paradise Canyon-Castle Rock area, St. George Fire Battalion Chief Robert Hooper said. He did not go into detail concerning the circumstances surrounding the crash.
A family member called 911 and both Gold Cross Ambulance and the St. George Fire Department responded.
It took an hour to hike to where the party was located, and Hooper noted the man appeared to have several broken bones among his injuries. The man may have also sustained a head injury due to initially falling unconscious after the crash.
Intermountain Life Flight was also called in to transport the man to Dixie Regional Medical Center. Prolonged exposure to the cold – which would be added with an hour’s hike back to the waiting ambulance – wasn’t seen as being in the man’s best interest.
“It was pretty cold and wet and he was in the shade,” Hooper said. “We were worried about hypothermia.”
The man was awake and alert when he was loaded into the Life Flight helicopter, Hooper said.
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