A 21-year-old Chatsworth man suffered a head injury Sunday evening after falling a reported 60 feet in Malibu Creek State Park in Calabasas, according to David Katz of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Malibu Search and Rescue Team.
The man was taken by helicopter to a local trauma center. This is the second injury at the park requiring a helicopter evacuation in the last week.Â
Rescue personnel responded to a rescue call at approximately 5:45 p.m. Los Angeles County Fire Department Copter 12 lowered a paramedic rescuer to the victim, who had fallen a reported 60 feet and suffered injuries in the “gorge” area of the park. The gorge is characterized by vehicle-sized boulders, a running stream, heavy poison oak and sheer cliff faces. The climber was packaged, winched up and flown to nearby trauma center for evaluation and treatment.Â
Four members of the injured climber’s hiking party were also evacuated. Members of the Malibu Search and Rescue Team hiked into the gorge area and evacuated the hikers (three males and one female from Simi Valley and Canoga Park) ranging in age from 19 to 23 years old. The rescue concluded at 8:30 p.m.Â
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Malibu Search and Rescue Team, Los Angeles County Fire Department and California State Parks personnel were involved in the response to the rescue call.Â
This is the second injury to a climber at Malibu Creek State Park in the past week. On Sunday, April 7, a 16-year-old male climber, of Westlake Village, suffered back injuries after falling 30 feet into the “rock pool” water area at the park.Â
The park is a popular location with climbers, and is among the areas in the Santa Monica Mountains that sees the highest number of rescues annually.Â
