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First responders in Nevada carried out a dramatic seven-hour rescue after a climber was seriously injured while stranded roughly 600 feet up a steep rock face near Las Vegas.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) said search and rescue teams were notified around noon Saturday about an injured climber on the “Dream Safari” route along Dark Shadows Wall in Pine Creek.
Authorities said the climber had fallen an estimated 40 to 50 feet, suffering severe head and back injuries.
The victim’s climbing partner and a guide from another climbing party reached the injured climber and controlled the bleeding while awaiting rescue crews.
Rescuers secured the climber in a titanium litter and lowered the patient in stages down the rock face. (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department)
Four search and rescue officers and a lead climb volunteer were inserted by the department’s AIR3 helicopter several hundred feet above the victim at the top of the route.
Rescuers then rappelled down the rock face, provided medical treatment while suspended mid-face, and secured the patient in a titanium litter.
Crews constructed a lowering system and brought the climber several hundred feet down to the ground through three separate lowering stations, with a rescuer attending to the patient during the descent.
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Las Vegas police search and rescue teams spent seven hours lowering an injured climber 600 feet to safety. (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department)
Once at the base, additional volunteers carried the litter to an extraction point where the helicopter returned to airlift the victim to a Bureau of Land Management helipad.
The climber was then transferred to a ground ambulance and taken to a local hospital.
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The climber’s helmet was destroyed in the fall but likely saved their life, officials said. (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department)
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LVMPD wrote on Facebook that the entire operation lasted about seven hours from initial insertion to final extraction.
“Although the victim’s helmet was destroyed during the fall, it likely saved their life,” police said.
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