Idaho teen falls 30 feet at Bridal Veil Falls
Aug 23, 2021, 6:29 PM | Updated: Jul 14, 2023, 3:18 pm
PROVO, Utah — A group of hikers had to be rescued off Bridal Veil Falls over the weekend after one of them fell approximately 30 feet.
The incident happened just before 9 p.m. Sunday.
“Getting to the base of the falls here is a relatively easy hike,” said Sgt. Spencer Cannon with the Utah County Sheriff’s Office.
But he said going behind that is what got a group of four young adults — who were not properly equipped to be hiking in the area — into some trouble.
Cannon said during their time outside, a 19-year-old man from Idaho fell.
“The drop where he fell and rolled 30 feet or so, was more of a tumbling fall, and then he dropped over about a four-foot vertical drop,” he said. “At that point, the friends, after they saw him go over that — they didn’t know how far down that was; they couldn’t see him.”
2/ You can see the degree of danger in these photos of #BridalVeilFalls. @UCSO_SAR had 13 team members on the mountain while @UtahDPS helicopter crew and @NorthForkFireUT provided rescue and medical assistance. And how many times have I said you MUST be properly equipped! pic.twitter.com/9d8VuMYalw
— Spencer Cannon (@SGTCannonPIO) August 23, 2021
With the help of a Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter and just over a dozen search and rescue team members, the 19-year-old was taken off the mountain and transported in an ambulance to the hospital.
Rescuers said he sustained relatively minor injuries to his ankle and is lucky to be alive.
Cannon urged hikers and climbers to be better prepared.
“If you don’t have experience doing it, bring somebody with you that has that experience,” he said.
He suggested people get hiking boots — warning that one of the hikers rescued Sunday night was in sandals.
Cannon also reminded people to pack extra layers as we head into fall.
“Nighttime can be fifty degrees colder than it is during the day, and you don’t want have to spend overnight when it’s 20 degrees outside,” he said.
Cannon said five other people have died in the area alone in the last five years, including a 40-year-old man from Roosevelt who fell and died while climbing with his fiancée’s 9-year-old son.
