CEDAR HILLS, Utah County — Rescuers hoisted a paraglider off a Utah County mountain Tuesday night after a crash and said he is expected to recover.
Crews responded before 5 p.m. to Mahogany Mountain after winds shifted, dropping the 28-year-old man into a mountain collision before he slid approximately 100 feet. Getting to the injured man set up what could have been a perilous rescue.
“He came over a ridge and his wing just collapsed,” Sgt. Dallin Turn with Utah County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue said. “Basically causing him to drop to the mountainside.”
There was avalanche danger above the man and with high potential danger for a rescue, a Life Flight helicopter equipped with a hoist made the difference. KSL’s Chopper 5 was able to catch the rescue as it happened.
“We were able to get the resources here that we needed to get him off the mountain,” Turner said. The man was lifted to safety and then landed and passed to a ground ambulance crew.
“We were just grateful to have a team of volunteers willing to go up there and help individuals that had come into a hard time up on the mountain,” Turner said.
A Utah man was airlifted after a paragliding crash on Mahogany Mountain in Utah County on Dec. 12, 2023. (Chopper 5, KSL TV)
Crews were also grateful for a positive outcome. Turner said the man complained of back and leg pain.
“He’s definitely going to have some injuries and a little bit of a road to recovery … but I think he’s going to be OK.”
It is at least the fourth paragliding accident in the past six months in northern Utah.
One dead, two injured in Tuesday’s paraglider crash
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