A 65-Year-Old Man Is Dead After Slipping and Falling into the Grand Canyon

A man died in the Grand Canyon on November 7 after falling more than 100 feet from an overlook above the canyon’s South Rim. The news was first published by the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office on its Facebook page.

The department’s search and rescue team reported on Facebook that they responded to a distress call at 2:00 P.M. after receiving word that a 65-year-old male had slipped and fallen over the edge of the canyon. The incident occurred at Guano Point, an overlook located inside the privately-owned tourist destination Grand Canyon West.

Search and rescue teams located the body of the man, who has yet to be identified, about 130 feet down on a scree pile.

“Technical rope technicians set up a lowering and raising system using ropes to recover him and convey the body to the Mohave County Medical Examiners Office,” the agency wrote on Facebook.

Three other outfits also assisted in the recovery: Hualapai Tribal Police Department, Hualapai Nation Fire, and Grand Canyon West Security.

Grand Canyon West sits outside of the boundary of Grand Canyon National Park, and is part of the Hualapai Reservation. The area owned is overseen by the Native American tribe.

It is a four hour drive from the Grand Canyon National Park South Rim visitor center, further west along the Colorado River canyon system. Grand Canyon West is most famous for its Skywalk, a 70-foot long glass walkway that stretches out in a horseshoe shape over the edge of the canyon. It also offers ziplining, helicopter tours, and whitewater rafting.

The rocky overlook the individual fell from, Guano Point, is a narrow prominence described on the Grand Canyon West website as “one of the most dramatic viewpoints of the Grand Canyon” and a spot “boasting stunning 360-degree views.” It has no safety railings. The location is also the site of an abandoned tramway, built in the 1950s, that was used to mine guano from nearby cave systems.

According to National Park Trips, falling is the second most-common cause of death inside Grand Canyon National Park, after “medical problems.” Forty individuals died of falls inside the park between 2007 and August 2023, an average of nearly 2.5 fatal falls per year. Last year, a BASE jumper died after attempting to parachute into the canyon from a popular overlook, Yavapai Point.

Grand Canyon West has seen fatal falls before, too. In June of 2023, the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office wrote on Facebook that a 33-year-old had fallen to his death from the Skywalk. The incident was later ruled a suicide.