Carson City sheriff's deputies, firefighters and paramedics carry a man up an embankment near Clear Creek Road on Friday evening after he fell while rock climbing.
Paramedics rescued a Lake Tahoe man around 7 p.m. Friday who fell about 25 feet while rock climbing near Old Clear Creek Road, breaking both arms and severely injuring his leg.
According to Carson City Fire Captain Bob Schreihans, the 23-year-old man had climbed between 20-25 feet about a half hour earlier when he grabbed onto a boulder to pull himself up.
“The boulder snapped off and broke,” Schreihans said. “When he fell back, the boulder fell on him.”
The man was climbing with a female friend, who called 911 when the accident occurred.
When rescue workers arrived, Schreihans said, the man was hanging upside down by his harness.
“That’s probably what saved him,” Schreihans said, explaining it reduced the blood loss.
Rescue workers had to pull the man from the base of a rock up a 30-foot embankment onto Old Clear Creek Road, which was closed for about 45 minutes.
He was taken by ambulance to the Renown Health in Reno.
Care Flight wasn’t involved because it was too smoky to land.
