AMERICAN FORK CANYON — A family outing turned tragic Sunday when a man fell 200 feet to his death in an attempt to save a 3-year-old girl who also fell off the trail leading from Timpanogos Cave.
The girl tumbled 75 feet but survived. She was initially listed in critical condition but was upgraded to stable condition Sunday night and was expected to make a full recovery, Utah County Sheriff's Lt. Darren Gilbert said.
The 46-year-old man was visiting from Russia and was staying with the girl's family, which is from Magna, Gilbert said. About eight family members and friends were in the group, which had just completed a tour of the cave, he said.
As the group was walking on the steep, mile-plus trail back to the parking lot, shortly after 6 p.m., the girl was apparently looking inside a bag of potato chips she was eating and was not paying attention to where she was walking. She veered off the right side of the trail and fell down a steep embankment.
The man apparently tried to grab the girl and prevent her from falling. Instead, he slipped and also went off the edge of the trail, falling much farther than the girl.
"The information we got is kind of sketchy," Gilbert said. "The initial call said he was holding onto the 3-year-old, trying to keep her from falling off. The latest (information) is that he started sliding, couldn't stop and proceeded off another 200 feet, past the young 3-year-old victim, where he sustained serious injuries that later resulted in his death."
The names of the victim and the injured girl were not released Sunday pending notification of family members.
The girl was hoisted off the mountain by a medical helicopter and taken to Primary Children's Medical Center.
The man was pronounced dead at the scene. His body was being brought down the mountain Sunday night by the Utah County Sheriff's Department's search and rescue team.
"He was in an area where they could not safely hoist him out" by helicopter, Gilbert said.
During the rescue operation, two search and rescue team members were injured by falling rocks and "had to be assisted out," Gilbert added.
The rescue effort forced the closure of U-92 and created a lengthy traffic jam in American Fork Canyon.
Gilbert said, to his knowledge, this was the first time someone had died from falling off the trail to Timpanogos Cave.
"We've had some people slip off the trail, but obviously none of them resulted in a fatality," he said. "Most of the things we have up there are medical-related — stress from the hike itself."
E-mail: zman@desnews.com