Wolcott paraglider conscious and alive after falling 50 feet
EDWARDS — A paraglider sustained non-life-threatening injuries Saturday after sailing off Bellyache Ridge in Wolcott.
The man fell approximately 50 feet and crash-landed in the Squaw Creek drainage area where he was rescued by local Mountain Rescue workers, said Dan Smith with Vail Mountain Rescue.
“He was about 400 or 500 vertical feet down,” Smith said. “We went and got him and brought him back up … he was hurting and needed an ambulance … but as far as I know he was alive and conscious and discussing things with the (emergency medical technicians) when we put him in the (ambulance).”
Smith said Mountain Rescue was able to respond to the call especially quickly on Saturday as they happened to be conducting a training exercise in the Wolcott area at the time of the crash.
“We were very close, and had the first guys on the scene within 20 minutes,” Smith said. “They had to head downhill from the Wolcott cliffs to get to the vehicles but they were able to do it … we got the call at 10:45 a.m. and he was in the (ambulance) at 12:59 p.m.”
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Staff Writer John LaConte can be reached at 970-748-2988 or jlaconte@vaildaily.com
