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Weather Alert

Helmet "probably" saves Colorado ATV driver after cliffside accident "into the abyss"

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ATV

LA PLATA COUNTY, Colorado () -- An ATV driver who drove off a canyon ledge Saturday evening was saved by his helmet and then rescued by search and rescue crews.

La Plata County Search and Rescue said it responded to a call of someone stuck on a ledge around 4:30 p.m. after the person's ATV "plummeted into the abyss" in the La Plata Canyon, search and rescue officials said.

"Technical rope rescue team" members were lowered into the canyon with a litter to bring the driver back up. Crews said it took over an hour to secure the driver, whose helmet "probably saved their life."

The cold, dark and snow made matters even more difficult, as did the more than 200-foot depth of the fall.

The driver was eventually loaded into an ambulance and taken to the hospital. The extent of their injuries was not immediately clear.