A snowboarder was rescued from a glacier in Colorado after roughly falling 100 feet, officials announced on Tuesday, Sept. 9.
A day before, on Sept. 8, authorities received a report of a person suffering serious injuries near Skyscraper Glacier, located north of Rollins Pass, a mountainous region 78 miles from Denver, the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
A 27-year-old man was about to descend from the glacier when he slid and tumbled approximately 100 feet down the snowfield before coming to rest in a bergschrund, which is a large crevasse within the glacier, the sheriff’s office said.
Watch rescuers save snowboarder after 100-foot fall
Emergency officials were airlifted to a mountain ridge above a snowfield to assist the man. The Colorado Search and Rescue Association assisted in the incident, with communication from the Colorado National Guard, to conduct a helicopter hoist of the man from the glacier.
Rescuers hiked through a 300-foot path of glacial snow to reach the man and managed to treat his injuries around 5:45 p.m. Mountain Time (MST). They then scouted the terrain and identified a path to airlift the man through less-hazardous terrain.
An uphaul system was used to raise the man to the top of the glacier as he received ongoing medical care, the sheriff’s office said. While at the top of the snowfield, he was raised over an eroding ridge before being flown to a local hospital for further treatment at around 8:10 p.m. MST.
Rescuers then hiked out of the field, and the mission was concluded at 1:00 a.m. MST, according to the sheriff’s office. The sheriff’s office did not identify the snowboarder, but told USA TODAY on Friday, Sept. 12, that “his injuries were not considered to be life-threatening.”
Michelle Del Rey is a trending news reporter at USA TODAY. Reach her at mdelrey@usatoday.com
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Video shows rescue of snowboarder who feel 100 feet from glacier
