‘Drunk As Hell’ Man Is Expected Survive After He Fell Off A 100-Foot Cliff While Camping In Colorado

According to The Durango Herald, the 29-year-old man that fell off of a 100-foot cliff in the upper Hermosa Creek area, CO while camping with a friend is expected to survive. Around 9:25pm on Monday, officials were alerted of a man that activated his GPS tracking device to alert authorities that his friend had fallen off of a cliff and needed to be rescued. At the time of the incident, the available information was poor due to the level of intoxication of the friend.

San Juan Country Search and Rescue, Silverton EMS, and La Plata County Search and Rescue responded to the GPS coordinates that were provided by the victim’s friend. The victim was located, roped 100 feet up the cliff, and transported by an all-terrain vehicle to a Flight for Life landing zone that was about a half-mile away from the campsite. After a 6.5 hour rescue mission, the victim was finally transported to Mercy Regional Medical Center.

The victim suffered a head injury, broken ribs, a punctured lung, and injuries to his spleen and liver. Thankfully, he is expected to survive. It was reported that the victim was standing near the cliff, when his friend warned him to be careful. The friend looked away and when he looked back, his friend was gone. He proceeded to fall asleep thinking it was a bad dream, but when he woke up a little while later and his friend still wasn’t back, he proceeded to active his GPS device to get help.

“If you’re too drunk to be camping, you’re too drunk,” stated San Juan County Sheriff Bruce Conrad.