Iron County Sheriff's Search and Rescue and Rope Rescue teams helped 19-year-old Kennedy Hunt, of Nevada, off a cliff side after she injured her knee during a hike in the area of the Thunderbird Gardens Trail, Iron County, Utah, Feb. 22, 2017 | Photo courtesy of the Iron County Sheriff's Office, Cedar City News / St. George News
IRON COUNTY – A hiking accident left a Nevada woman stuck on a cliff Wednesday evening, resulting in county search and rescue teams and others to respond as a snow storm began to roll in.
Around 5:20 p.m. Wednesday, Iron County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the location of 19-year-old Nevada college student Kennedy Hunt. She was stuck on a cliff above the Thunderbird Gardens Trail near Cedar City.
She had been injured while climbing up the cliffs with a friend when a large rock fell and hit her in the knee and rendered her unable to get off the cliff, according to a press release from the Iron County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies encountered Hunt’s friend at the base of the cliff once they arrived on scene.
Hunt was found to be “a significant distance up cliff face from the base,” requiring deputies to call in the Iron County Sheriff’s Rope Rescue and Search and Rescue teams. Gold Cross Ambulance personnel were also on scene.
The retrieval operation lasted around three hours, during which time rescue units had to hike approximately two miles up extremely rugged terrain in order to reach Hunt. After securing Hunt and heading back down the cliff, snowfall started to hit the area, Iron County Sheriff’s Sgt. Nik Johnson said.
“Despite the onset of a snow storm, the combined efforts of members of all of these groups contributed to a successful rescue operation and they were able to get Kennedy off the side of the cliff,” Johnson said in the press release.
Hunt was examined by Gold Cross personnel and left the area in a private vehicle.
“It’s a good idea for hikers to check the weather before they go out,” Johnson said Thursday. “The weather can change in a minute out here.”
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Iron County Sheriff's Search and Rescue and Rope Rescue teams helped 19-year-old Kennedy Hunt, of Nevada, off a cliff side after she injured her knee during a hike in the area of the Thunderbird Gardens Trail, Iron County, Utah, Feb. 22, 2017 | Photo courtesy of the Iron County Sheriff's Office, Cedar City News / St. George News
Iron County Sheriff's Search and Rescue and Rope Rescue teams helped 19-year-old Kennedy Hunt, of Nevada, off a cliff side after she injured her knee during a hike in the area of the Thunderbird Gardens Trail, Iron County, Utah, Feb. 22, 2017 | Photo courtesy of the Iron County Sheriff's Office, Cedar City News / St. George News
Iron County Sheriff's Search and Rescue and Rope Rescue teams helped 19-year-old Kennedy Hunt, of Nevada, off a cliff side after she injured her knee during a hike in the area of the Thunderbird Gardens Trail, Iron County, Utah, Feb. 22, 2017 | Photo courtesy of the Iron County Sheriff's Office, Cedar City News / St. George News
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2017, all rights reserved.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mori Kessler serves as a Senior Reporter for St. George News, having previously contributed as a writer and Interim Editor in 2011-12, and an assistant editor from 2012 to mid-2014. He began writing news as a freelancer in 2009 for Today in Dixie, and joined the writing staff of St. George News in mid-2010. He enjoys photography and won an award for photojournalism from the Society of Professional Journalists for a 2018 photo of a bee inspector removing ferals bees from a Washington City home. He is also a shameless nerd and has a bad sense of direction.
Kudos to all the search and rescue personnel who always get the job done, regardless of the conditions!