A teenage boy survived a 20-foot tumble off Maxwell Falls Tuesday, as a local family who happened to be there helped mount the rescue.
The boy was airlifted to St. Anthony Central in Lakewood.
Jason Guenzel and his three children were at the falls at the end of a popular hiking trail between Evergreen and Conifer.
A 17-year-old boy flopped down hard on his back in the shallow water and branches 5 feet from Guenzel, who rushed over to help him.
The boys eyes rolled back in his head.
“When I first looked at him in the face, I thought I was looking at a guy who was going to die,” Guenzel said a few hours after the fall at about 3 p.m.
Guenzel’s 10-year-old daughter saw the boy scooting on his bottom to the edge of the rock cliff when he slipped over.
More than a dozen rescuers from local agencies rushed to the site, but in the meantime Guenzel’s children — a 12-year-old son and daughters age 10 and 7 — relieved the boy’s mother in talking to him to keep him alert but still.
They were completely serious and did exactly what they were told by adults, Guenzel said.
The family was in transit, moving to Arizona, he said, but the did not catch where they were from.Officials at the Elk Creek Fire Department said they did not know Wednesday morning what condition the boy was in.
The boy’s name was not released.
