HANKSVILLE, Wayne County — A 33-year-old Washington, D.C., woman fell to her death while rappelling in a slot canyon near Hanksville, according to police.
Fiona Heckscher was rappelling in Angel Point Cove Canyon about 9 a.m. Tuesday when she fell, according to a release from the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office.
Friends and fellow rock climbers told police that Heckscher “was coming out of the slot canyon when she slid 20 feet, then free fell about 40 feet to the bottom of the canyon,” the release said.
A helicopter assisted search and rescue efforts in the remote slot canyon about 65 miles east of Moab. But when medical personnel reached Heckscher, they determined she hadn’t survived the fall despite resuscitation efforts by her friends, police said.