Emergency responders were called Monday and Tuesday for separate incidents involving climbers falling at Cascade Creek.
Jim Donovan, with San Juan County Search and Rescue, said a climber took a “serious fall” that required advanced care around 1 p.m. Monday.
The woman was taken by a Flight For Life helicopter to a hospital and is expected to survive, he said.
Donovan did not provide the woman’s name, age or where she is from. He also did not immediately know how far the woman fell while climbing.
Then, on Tuesday, emergency responders received a report of a climber who fell, also in the Cascade Creek area. Though search and rescue personnel from both San Juan and La Plata counties responded, the climber was ultimately able to self-rescue.
Donovan did not have any information about the climber.
The two rescue missions this week make for three emergency incidents in the Cascade Creek area in the past few days.
Another climber was seriously injured Friday afternoon after falling 30 feet in Cascade Falls.
The man fell about 1:30 p.m. and required extraction from the canyon, said Ron Corkish, president of La Plata County Search and Rescue, at the time.
The emergency responders called in an air ambulance to transport the man for medical care, he said.
Donovan said because Cascade Creek is near the La Plata and San Juan county border, crews from both counties are regularly called to the area when search and rescue missions are required, namely San Juan County Search and Rescue, La Plata County Search and Rescue and Durango Fire Protection District.
Donovan said Cascade Creek is a “popular spot” for recreation, including climbing.
“We’re not shocked or surprised,” he said of the recent uptick in rescue missions in the area.
jromeo@durangoherald.com
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