With only minor injuries, a California man amazingly survived a 75-foot fall from a mountainous terrain at the top of a tramway system.
The unnamed guy fell from the top of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, which takes guests 2.5 miles across the Sonoran Desert to the summit of Mt. San Jacinto, which stands at 8,500 feet above sea level. According to the Los Angeles Times, he climbed over the guardrail this weekend and slipped.
According to Greg Purdy, vice president of marketing and public affairs at the Palm Springs Convention and Visitors Bureau, an employee at a restaurant atop Mt. San Jacinto’s summit noticed the man climbing over a railing on Saturday, Feb. 12, just before he slipped on hard ice, fell, and landed in an inaccessible area.
According to the Riverside County Fire Department, emergency personnel received a report about 5:30 p.m. regarding a person falling from the cliff.
A helicopter from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department was requested, but it was unable to assist with the rescue efforts due to the icy conditions. Instead, firefighters arrived on the spot with ropes and riggings and rappelled down to where the man was.
He was carried in a Stokes basket, which is a stretcher intended to transfer patients vertically from steep terrain in emergency situations. According to Riverside County Fire spokesperson April Newman, the guy suffered minor injuries but declined further medical attention.
He climbed over the railing for no apparent reason.
“Our first concern is to figure out what happened, not how it happened.”