Local Man ‘Eternally Grateful’ After Surviving Hiking Accident

 Bleeding from cuts on his arms, suffering from a smashed leg and foot and dangling from a helicopter over a deep, cactus-filled ravine, Steve Koppel didn’t have time to reflect on what caused him to slip and fall. But he knows that, if not for luck, instinct or divine intervention, his Arizona vacation trek could easily have claimed his life.

 A Brewster resident and photographer who owns a gallery in Chatham, Koppel left on the day after Christmas for a getaway with his wife, Paula, at a resort in the Catalina Foothills near Tucson. They signed up for an off-site hike led by two experienced guides on the Finger Rock Trail, a trek Koppel and his wife enjoyed last year. 

“So I knew it wasn’t anything out of our abilities,” he said. Physically fit at 64, Koppel knew the climb would be strenuous, “but it wasn’t a dangerous hike or anything; there were no technical skills needed,” he said. “There was nothing ‘not safe’ about this.”



Two-and-a-half miles later, they reached the top of the climb and paused to have lunch and to re-hydrate. It wasn’t in a particularly precarious spot, Koppel recalled.

 “I have a fear of heights, so I don’t go near the edges of cliffs or anything,” he said. And yet, somehow Koppel made a misstep, stumbled on a rock “and before I knew it I was tumbling backwards on a rocky, cactus-filled slope.” The gorge is several hundred feet deep, but Koppel managed to stop himself about 40 feet down. 

 “The guide told me this: it was almost like I was trained in how to fall, because I was protecting my head and neck with my arms,” he said. That instinctual action likely kept Koppel from striking his head, allowing him to remain conscious and stop his descent. Had he sustained a head injury, “it would’ve been a very different result because I would’ve ended up at the bottom,” Koppel said.

 Trained in first aid, the guides climbed to Koppel’s location, stabilized him and braced him, allowing him to slowly edge his way back up to the trail. “From there, it was clear I wasn’t going to be able to walk,” he said. The guides called 911, which triggered a team response by the local sheriff’s office and the nonprofit search and rescue group Southern Arizona Rescue Association.

 “In Arizona especially, the rescue organizations are amazing,” Koppel said. The team dispatched a crew of eight people to climb the mountain with various kinds of rescue equipment, even as a rescue helicopter was scrambled. Both approaches were necessary, since chopper rescues can be made impossible by terrain, weather or other factors. In such a case, rescuers estimated that it would take around 30 people working in shifts to carry Koppel down the mountain, an eight-hour job.

 Waiting for the rescuers to arrive was difficult, “but I was in good hands,” he recalled. After an hour and a half, the helicopter arrived and the pilot decided that it would be safe to hoist Koppel to safety. One rescuer descended from the helicopter in a rescue sling and moved Koppel to the sling for his ascent.

 But what about Koppel’s fear of heights? 

There simply wasn’t time to be afraid, he said with a chuckle. Staying on the ground wasn’t a viable option. He was told that he probably wouldn’t spin on his solo hoist up to the aircraft, but that if he did, he should close his eyes and look downward. Actually, the trip up was quick and straightforward, as shown in video taken by those on the ground.

 “In the moment, I just felt such relief that I had been rescued and I would be safe, so that my normal fear of heights didn’t come into play,” Koppel said.

 The helicopter shuttled him to a local hospital where he received excellent care, and after a couple days’ rest at the resort to prepare him for his plane trip, he was back on his way to the Cape. Koppel and his wife are now back safely at home, where he’s recuperating nicely from a fractured fibula and ankle and plenty of cuts and bruises.

 “But nothing else serious, miraculously,” he said. “I am eternally grateful and thankful. Because this is a reminder of living each day to the max. I have no idea how I fell. I replay it over and over in my mind.” It was quite an experience for a man who’s never broken a bone before.

 “Nor have I had a helicopter ride,” he quipped. 

 Koppel made a sizable donation to the rescue group, partly to thank the volunteers who came to his aid, and partly to support the rescue of other people in the future. Here on the Cape, he’s also grateful for friends, customers and business associates who have come to his house to offer help.

 “The whole Cape Cod community has been very supportive and caring, checking on me,” he said. 

 Will Koppel hike again? 

Time will tell, he says. If such a small misstep — which he can’t even remember — put his life in jeopardy, it’s not a decision to be made lightly. While he has no regrets about making the climb, the accident was potentially life-changing.

 “Someone or something was watching over me,” Koppel said.