GOLDEN, Colo. — Two women helping a climbing group were injured in a rockfall in Clear Creek Canyon Saturday. The two were rescued from the canyon and transported to the hospital.
Crews closed both directions of U.S. 6 through the canyon Saturday morning as they worked to rescue the two women. The highway reopened later in the afternoon.
Around 10:50 a.m., the Golden Fire Department tweeted that crews were on scene performing a technical rescue of two injured patients on the east side of Tunnel 2. West Metro Fire was assisting.
The Colorado State Patrol tweeted that at least one person was badly injured.
Video from AirTracker7 showed a person being lowered down from a ladder and taken by a medical helicopter to a hospital. Their condition is unknown.
Crews said they were working to extricate the second person after the first person was flown to a trauma center. Around noon, the second woman was rescued from the mountain and taken by ambulance to a hospital in an unknown condition.
Authorities said the two women were injured when rocks came loose and fell from the side of the mountain during a rock climbing event. One woman was struck in the head and the other was struck on the foot.
Golden Fire said the two were not rock climbing themselves. The woman who sustained a head injury was belaying for a rock climber.