Climber plunges 120 feet down steep cliff in Colorado — and survives. See the rescue
A climber survived a scary 120-foot fall down a steep rocky wall in Colorado, rescuers said.
Two climbers were scaling Mother’s Buttress, a granite wall popular with rock climbers in western Colorado, on Saturday, Feb. 17, the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release and on Facebook.
Dramatic photos show the rescue on a ledge about 200 feet from the cliff’s base.
Rescuers flew a drone up to find the 48-year-old injured climber, of Grand Junction, and his climbing partner on the ledge and then climbed up to get them down, officials said in the release.
Rescuers flew the injured climber to a local hospital in a helicopter, and he’s in stable condition, officials said.
“That’s quite the fall,” someone said in the comments on Facebook. “What a blessing to be in stable condition.”
The Mother’s Buttress rock wall is just north of Highway 141 and about 30 miles south of Grand Junction. The highway was shut down in both directions during the rescue, officials said.
Grand Junction is about 245 miles southwest of Denver.
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