Canyoneering guide traumatically injured in fall in Kane County

ST. GEORGE — A canyoneering guide was left with traumatic injuries Saturday following a fall in Kane County near Zion National Park.

The Kane County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team and a Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter responded the report of a fall in the Birch Hollow area near Zion National Park that left a canyoneering guide with traumatic injuries, Kane County, Utah, Sept. 5, 2020 | Photo country of the Kane County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team, St. George News

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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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.

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