As breathtaking as it may be, visiting the Grand Canyon takes at least a bare minimum of caution to be exercised. While millions of people visit the majestic natural wonder every year, its terrain can sometimes turn out to be treacherous. Recently, a teenager named Wyatt Kauffman went through a life-threatening ordeal and yet came out alive. The 13-year-old boy miraculously survived a 100-foot fall from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Let’s take a look at the incident.
Teen recounts surviving Grand Canyon fall
From his hospital bed, Wyatt Kauffman recalled his traumatic experience at the Grand Canyon. The 13-year-old North Dakota teen is currently recovering from severe injuries including nine broken vertebrae, a ruptured spleen, a concussion, a collapsed lung and a broken hand.
With a mixed sense of survival and amnesia, the teenager said he doesn’t remember anything after his horrifying fall. He does have a few glimpses of being in the back of an ambulance, a plane and a helicopter to get to the hospital.
So, how did Wyatt Kauffman fall in the first place? The teenager was on a vacation with his family as they visited the Grand Canyon’s North Rim. As he tried to move out of the way to allow others to take a picture, Wyatt lost grip on a nearby rock, which led to his fall.
The teen said he squatted down and held on to a rock with only one hand. When the grip became loose, it started to push him back and Wyatt immediately fell.
Rescue efforts explained, NPS statement
The Grand Canyon National Park’s Search and Rescue (SAR) team pulled off a timely and successful rescue operation. The National Park Service released a statement on the team’s efforts to retrieve the teenager.
The SAR team utilized rope techniques to safely raise Wyatt to the rim. This took about two hours to achieve. The operation was deemed necessary after it was determined that helicopter retrieval was not feasible.
Preventive Search and Rescue Supervisor Meghan Smith highlighted that the rescuers’ advanced medical skills clearly paid off in the challenging environment. The timely rescue and effective execution ensured that Wyatt made it back alive.
Father opens up on Wyatt Kaufman’s recovery
Apart from the aforementioned severe injuries, Wyatt also had scars and bruises on one side of his face, along with dislocated fingers. Despite this, Wyatt’s father Brian Kauffman is grateful that his son’s condition has been constantly improving.
Brian believes that his family is lucky that they brought their kid home in a car in the front seat instead of in a box. He said that Wyatt has been getting better with each day and thanked the rescue teams for their timely help.
In a sense, Wyatt’s father Brian was right when he said his son was lucky. Other such incidents of falling in the Grand Canyon have ended tragically, almost always. In August 2022, the SAR team responded to a park visitor who fell 200 feet to his death in the same area.
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