A climber suffered severe head and back injuries Saturday after falling an estimated 40 to 50 feet on the Dream Safari route at Dark Shadows Wall in Pine Creek Canyon in Nevada’s Red Rock Canyon, triggering a lengthy technical rescue operation by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Search and Rescue (LVMPD).
The incident was reported around noon on February 28th, 2026. The injured climber came to rest near the top of the first pitch, roughly 600 feet above the canyon floor. The victim’s climbing partner and a guide from a nearby party reached the climber quickly and controlled the bleeding while awaiting rescue personnel.
LVMPD helicopter AIR3 inserted four SAR officers and a Lead Climb volunteer several hundred feet above the victim at the top of the route. Rescue personnel then rappelled down to the injured climber, administered medical treatment while positioned on the wall, and secured the victim in a titanium litter.
The team constructed a multi-station lowering system and brought the climber down several hundred feet to the base of the wall using three separate lowering stations, with a rescuer attending to the patient throughout the descent. Additional Lead Climb and Mountain Rescue volunteers then helped carry the litter to a suitable extraction point, where AIR3 returned to airlift the victim and all rescue personnel out.
The climber was transferred to a ground ambulance at the BLM helipad and taken to a local hospital. The entire operation spanned approximately seven hours. Rescuers noted that while the victim’s helmet was destroyed in the fall, it very likely saved their life.
