A 21-year-old rock climber died after falling 150 feet at a popular climbing area in the San Jacinto Mountains, the Riverside County Coroner’s Office reported Saturday.
UPDATE: Dunn's climbing partner has posted a detailed account of the fatal fall on an online climbing forum.
Lucas Dunn of nearby Idyllwild was climbing on Lily Rock in the Humber Park area when he fell, according to the coroner’s report.
Medical personnel from the California Department of Forestry responded to a call at 11:30 a.m. Friday to the Hemet Sheriff’s Station about the injured climber. When they arrived after hiking to Lily Rock, paramedics found him dead.
The Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit responded and, with the help of a sheriff’s helicopter, took Dunn to a firefighting base near Idyllwild, where Dunn’s body was released to the Coroner's Office.
The man's climbing partner said Dunn was standing on an unstable rock when it gave way and sent him into a free-fall down the rock face, according to Southwest Riverside News Network.
Lily Rock, also known as Tahquitz Rock, has long been a destination for rock climbers.
