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Jumping, Even A Little Bit, Can Be Dangerous In Zion National Park

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Published Date

October 18, 2014
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Jumping, even a little, can do you harm in Zion National Park/NPS

Jumping, even just a little bit, can be dangerous in Zion National Park. Two park visitors discovered that in two different incidents in a ten-minute period that left them with broken legs.

The incidents spurred the park's search-and-rescue teams into action with responses that required technical rope work and, in one of the cases, a litter hauled several hundred feet up a cliffside.

In the first incident on October 10, a "35-year-old canyoneer in Pine Creek Canyon had jumped five feet into a pool of water.  He thought that the pool was deep enough to cushion his landing, but landed on a ledge hidden just below the surface.  He broke his fibula and was unable to bear any weight on his injured leg," reported Plateau District Ranger Ray O'Neil.

After a park medic rappelled through the canoneering route to reach the injured man, from the Canyon Overlook Trail "rangers set up a lowering system to lower a litter and attendant from the trail to the man'™s location, then raised him and two attendants 350 feet back to the trail," the district ranger expained.

In the second incident on the same day, a "51-year-old woman jumped a short distance while she was down climbing an obstacle (in Hidden Canyon). She also suffered from a broken fibula," said Ranger O'Neil.

While the rescuers were considering an extrication that entailed placing the woman in a litter and hauling her 400 feet up and out of Hidden Canyon, after being told of the plan the woman "decided to attempt to hobble out of the canyon with assistance from crutches and rangers and was able to complete the task.  A litter team met her just past the cliff face and carried her to the trailhead," the district ranger said.

For anyone planning to head to Zion for some canyoneering or backcountry hiking, rangers point out that "(J)umping, as opposed to using a rope or down climbing, is the leading cause of preventable injuries in the Zion Wilderness."

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Comments

Submitted by Jim Burnett on October 18, 2014 - 7:57am.

Ouch! Good reminders for visits to any park.


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