A 49-year-old man died Saturday morning after a loose rock triggered a deadly rockslide on a steep trail in Little Cottonwood Canyon, southeast of Salt Lake City, sending him tumbling hundreds of feet as boulders rained down.
The hiker lost his footing around 8:45 a.m. on the Pfeifferhorn trail near Bell’s Canyon and fell nearly 700 feet in the cascading debris, Salt Lake County officials told KSL. A doctor hiking nearby performed CPR but couldn’t revive him; he was pronounced dead at the scene. (RELATED: 8 Survival Essentials for the Ultimate Outdoorsman)
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Rock Slide at Little Cottonwood CanyonSALT LAKE COUNTY, Utah — A tragic rock slide at the White Pine Trailhead in Little Cottonwood Canyon prompted a swift response from the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue team on Saturday morning. At least one… pic.twitter.com/d9AqRlyVNY
— SLCScanner (@SLCScanner) July 19, 2025
Heather Hayes, a fellow hiker, recounted the terrifying moment she witnessed. She and her husband, an ER doctor, had exchanged pleasantries with the man earlier that morning as they navigated the rugged, boulder-strewn trail.
“I watched him as it loosened on him and he fell backwards,” Hayes told the outlet. “It started a cascade of rocks and he called out to me for help, but I couldn’t even process what was happening.”
Her husband and another hiker, later identified as a nursing student, scrambled into the gulch to try to save him. They performed CPR for several minutes but were forced to retreat when a second rockslide sent chair-sized boulders crashing down the same chute, according to the outlet.
Rescue crews arrived nearly two hours later and airlifted the man’s body at 10:30 a.m. No other hikers were injured, authorities reportedly said.
“I was the last person he spoke to,” Hayes said. “I think I was the only one close enough to him to see exactly what happened.”
The victim’s name has not yet been released.