The Chronicle

A 24-year-old Minnesota man dangled off the face of Tower Rock in Randle for about 10 hours Wednesday and into Thursday morning last week after an unsuccessful attempt to rappel down the rock, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

He was rescued after about 20 volunteers from various search and rescue groups converged on the area, and completed the complicated procedure of hoisting him back up the rock.

According to Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Bruce Kimsey, authorities were notified of the situation at around 2:45 p.m. Wednesday. Kimsey said two 24-year-old Minnesota residents had been hiking Tower Rock in the Cispus Valley.

At the top of the rock, one decided to hike down while other chose to rappel. He went down around 450 feet, Kimsey said, before becoming stuck — unable to swing back to the rock, achieve an anchor point, and rappel the rest of the way down.

The other hiker, after reaching the bottom, was able to make a call to 911.

Kimsey said volunteers from the Tacoma Mountain Rescue Team, Olympic Mountain Rescue and Packwood Search and Rescue responded. At 12:50 a.m., they were able to successfully hoist the man to safety. Kimsey said the process of getting to the rock and the procedure of safely using ropes to hoist the man back up proved a complicated and time-consuming one.

The man was taken to Morton General Hospital for evaluation, and was reportedly very tired and sore from dangling for so long.