Soloist Survives 100 Foot Fall on Keyhole Route on Long's Peak

The NPS reports: A 28-year-old man from Aurora, Colorado, fell about 100 feet from the Narrows section of the Keyhole Route on Longs Peak around 10 a.m. on the morning of Thursday, January 20th, knocking himself unconscious. When he regained consciousness, he climbed and pulled himself back to the Keyhole Route, then crawled and hobbled four miles to Chasm Junction, resting at one point in the Agnes Vaille Shelter near the Boulderfield. A local guide and his client heard cries for help around 6:30 p.m. that evening, found the man, and notified the park. A group of rescuers reached him just before midnight. Eight members of the park’s staff and nine members of Larimer County SAR stayed with him through the night. Plans to fly him out at sunrise the next morning had to be scratched due to high winds, so he was evacuated by a litter team, then taken by ambulance to Estes Park Medical Center. He was stable and alert with numerous injuries at the time of the report. [Submitted by Kyle Patterson, Public Affairs Specialist