Bystander, rescuer CPR saves climber after 70-foot fall in Colo. park

Bystanders, park staff and rescue teams performed CPR and executed a two-hour technical evacuation after a 70-foot fall on Eldorado Canyon’s Chockstone Route

November 09, 2025 12:00 PM

By Lauren Penington
The Denver Post

BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — A climber was rescued Sunday afternoon after falling multiple stories from a route in Eldorado Canyon State Park, according to the Boulder County officials.

The 69-year-old man and his partner were climbing the Chockstone Route when the man fell about 70 feet to the ground below, according to a news release from the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office.

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Bystanders and rescuers performed CPR to resuscitate the unidentified man after his heart stopped, sheriff’s officials said. Someone called for help just before 2:20 p.m. Sunday.

Eldorado Canyon State Park employees, Boulder County sheriff’s deputies, the Rocky Mountain Rescue Group and Mountain View Fire Protection District crews all responded to help the fallen climber, according to the sheriff’s office.

Rescuers secured the injured climber onto a stretcher and, over the course of two hours, carefully moved him down rocky terrain to an ambulance, sheriff’s officials said. Paramedics then took the man to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.

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