Man Dies in Fall From South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park

Submitted by Kurt Repanshek on November 29, 2009 - 8:02am

A man fell about 200 feet to his death near Mather Point in Grand Canyon National Park on Saturday. NPS photo by Michael Quinn.

Rangers at Grand Canyon National Park are trying to determine how a man fell 200 feet to his death from the South Rim near Mather Point.

Other visitors contacted the Grand Canyon Regional Communications Center about 12:30 p.m. Saturday to report a man's body below the rim in an area between Mather Point and Pipe Creek Vista roughly 2 miles east of the South Rim Village.

The body was spotted a short time later by park rangers who had initially responded by helicopter, according to a park release. Park search and rescue rangers then rappelled down to where the man’s body had been located and prepared the body for transport via helicopter to the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park.

The body then was to be transferred to the Coconino County Medical Examiner, located in Flagstaff, Ariz., the park said.

The man had been visiting the park with his son, daughter-in-law and other extended family. The man’s identification was being withheld pending notification of additional family members.

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Comments

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on November 29, 2009 - 4:59pm.

Maybe they should close down the Grand Canyon as well...

Condolences to the family.

Submitted by Suzanne Frost (not verified) on November 30, 2009 - 2:48pm.

If we closed down the parks. Think of all the money we as taxpayers would save. If the Ranchers took over the parks, at least they would be good stewards of the lands. Sympathy for the family.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on November 30, 2009 - 8:35pm.

Suzanne Frost, closed down the parks...and what? I don't see too many ranchers being good stewards of the land. Such as: overgrazing, lack of rotational grazing practices, overzealous predator controls over wildlife, streams and rivers polluted by cow dung, stream side beds being trampled by roving livestock...etc...et cetera. Like to see the cattlemen pay a little more in taxes for there free government land that they use, especially after the environmental land mess they leave behind. No doubt there's excellent ranchers that do good for the land but there's very few that carry the Aldo Leopold land ethic and put it to good use.