SAR NEWS: Palomar Mountain - 800 foot fall in canyon - Still alive

Woman falls 800 feet in San Diego County canyon

Cal Fire Rescuers are trying to figure out how to extract a woman out of the canyon after she fell about 800 feet on a south slope of Palomar Mountain in San Diego County..

A companion called for help about 4:50 p.m., sheriff's and Cal Fire officials said.

The woman is believed alive but the extent of her injuries isn't known, Cal Fire Capt. Nick Shuler said. He said the accident occurred in Pauma Valley, off Nate Harrison Grade Road that leads up the mountain.

Shuler said authorities are trying to figure out how to rescue the woman, who is in a deep, steep ravine wooded with 75-foot-tall trees. He did not know how the accident occurred.

A sheriff's helicopter is on scene. Cal Fire also has requested a Coast Guard helicopter to help in the rescue.

Update: Canyon rescue still underway

The woman, in her 40s, was visiting friends on Nate Harrison Grade Road, on
a south slope of Palomar Mountain. She hiked into a canyon below the friends'
house to see a waterfall, but got stuck partway there, Cal Fire Capt. Nick
Schuler said.

Schuler said the woman slipped and slid all the way down the canyon to the bottom. Her friends called for help about 4:50 p.m. and scrambled to her side. The woman had suffered only minor injuries, but wasn't able to walk back up the steep canyon trails

Rescue efforts ran into problems. A sheriff's helicopter couldn't get low enough to land near the woman, and a Coast Guard helicopter couldn't hoist her out, because 75-foot trees were in the way. Firefighters were not able to carry the 265-pound woman, Schuler said. By 9 p.m., firefighters decided to try fastening the woman into a basket-style stretcher and haul her up with
ropes.

About 11 p.m., Schuler said the rescue could take about another half-hour, with about 50 firefighters and an inmate hand crew to clear a path up the hill and help with the ropes.

Source: SoSD Blog