North Dakota teen Wyatt Kauffman survives plunging 100 feet at Grand Canyon

A North Dakota teen survived a 100-foot fall when he slipped off a cliff at the Grand Canyon during a family vacation last week.

Wyatt Kauffman, 14, recalled the harrowing experience from his hospital bed where he was recovering after suffering nine broken vertebrae, a ruptured spleen and other severe injuries.

“After the fall, I don’t remember anything after that,” he told Arizona-based KPNX.

“I just remember somewhat waking up and being in the back of an ambulance and a helicopter and getting on a plane and getting here.”

Kauffman said he fell Tuesday when he tried moving out of the way so other people could take a photo while at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

“I squatted down and was holding onto a rock. I only had one hand on it,” Kauffman said, adding. “It wasn’t that good of a grip. It was kind of pushing me back. I lost my grip and started to fall back.”

It took two hours and dozens of first responders with the National Park Service to repel down the cliff at Bright Angel Point trail and retrieve the boy from the canyon in a basket, the television station reported.

In addition to the broken vertebrae and ruptured spleen, he sustained a concussion, collapsed lung, broken hand and dislocated finger.  

Scars and bruises covered one side of his face, though his father Brian told the station it “looks a lot better than it did yesterday.”

Brian was in North Dakota while his son and wife were visiting national parks. The young man was reportedly discharged over the weekend and was on the way home.

“We’re just lucky we’re bringing our kid home in a car in the front seat,” Brian Kauffman said. “Instead of in a box.”