ST. GEORGE — A canyoneering guide was left with traumatic injuries Saturday following a fall in Kane County near Zion National Park.
The fall was reported in the Birch Hollow area near Zion National Park and was the result of a rappelling accident, according to a post made on the Kane County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Facebook page Sunday night.
“A canyoneering guide was giving a tour when the biner block got stuck on the edge of a rappel,” the Facebook post states. “The guide scaled the rocks back up to get it unstuck and then rigged to the rope that you would normally pull. This caused him to fall approximately 15 feet causing traumatic injuries.”
East Zion Fire Department went to the scene and requested the aid of the Kane County Search and Rescue team. The team’s technical ropes team was sent to the incident.
The Utah Department of Public Safety’s helicopter was also brought in to aid in lifting the injured canyoneering guide out of the area and taking him to a waiting ambulance nearby.
The guide had since been listed to be in stable condition, according to the Facebook post.
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The Kane County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team and Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter responded the report of a fall in the Birch Hollow area near Zion National Park that left canyoneering guide with traumatic injuries from a fall 15 feet fall, Kane County, Utah, Sept. 5, 2020 | Photo country of the Kane County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team, St. George News
The Kane County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team and Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter responded the report of a fall in the Birch Hollow area near Zion National Park that left canyoneering guide with traumatic injuries from a fall 15 feet fall, Kane County, Utah, Sept. 5, 2020 | Photo country of the Kane County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team, St. George News
The Kane County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team and Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter responded the report of a fall in the Birch Hollow area near Zion National Park that left canyoneering guide with traumatic injuries from a fall 15 feet fall, Kane County, Utah, Sept. 5, 2020 | Photo country of the Kane County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team, St. George News
The Kane County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team and Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter responded the report of a fall in the Birch Hollow area near Zion National Park that left canyoneering guide with traumatic injuries from a fall 15 feet fall, Kane County, Utah, Sept. 5, 2020 | Photo country of the Kane County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team, St. George News
The Kane County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team and Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter responded the report of a fall in the Birch Hollow area near Zion National Park that left canyoneering guide with traumatic injuries from a fall 15 feet fall, Kane County, Utah, Sept. 5, 2020 | Photo country of the Kane County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team, St. George News
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mori Kessler serves as a Senior Reporter for St. George News, having previously contributed as a writer and Interim Editor in 2011-12, and an assistant editor from 2012 to mid-2014. He began writing news as a freelancer in 2009 for Today in Dixie, and joined the writing staff of St. George News in mid-2010. He enjoys photography and won an award for photojournalism from the Society of Professional Journalists for a 2018 photo of a bee inspector removing ferals bees from a Washington City home. He is also a shameless nerd and has a bad sense of direction.