Rangers in Yellowstone National Park saved a New York man who fell about 25 feet into a canyon while trying to take a picture.
The 71-year-old man fell Sunday, as he was attempting to take a picture of a sign at Grand View at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, according to a statement released by the park on Monday.
Park rangers said the man stopped his fall by bracing his body and feet on opposing sides of a small crevice.
Rangers threw rope to the man that they secured to a sign and a tree, and the rescue crews used a system of ropes and pulleys to lift the man to safety.
The unidentified man was hospitalized for a possible hip injury – but things could have been much worse.
“According to staff on scene, the man was extremely lucky,” the park said in a statement. “The crevice and the angle of his body during the fall helped the man stop at the top of a 200 foot drop. A fall just inches to the left may have resulted in a fatality as the canyon wall is mostly steep loose rock."