Because he s not responding. at the bottom of the wall of rock, eric comes to. i looked at my hands, saw a bloody mess, checked myself out, immediately stood up. and it dawns on him, amazingly, he s still alive. i knew i had just been part of a miracle. modern day miracle caught on tape. david now has to rappel to his friend in the canyon below. i asked him what happened, you okay? he just shows me his hands and his hands were just all blistery, all meaty. i knew i had just survived a fall that i should not have survived. and now there s only one way out of the canyon. i m a little shocked still, but we re carrying on. he s a trouper. it was another ten hours out of there, ten more rappels, more swimming to get out at this point.
Down a towering cliff but loses control and falls 100 feet to the bottom. i thought for sure that my life was coming to an end. hey, you okay? in the summer of 2009, eric shrever and david cardona are hiking through utah s zion national park. they re both experienced canyoneers, skilled at getting through canyons by any means possible. that includes climbing, rappeling or even swimming. i ve always loved the outdoors. i ve been an avid hiker. but this canyoneering sport, it takes hiking to a whole new level, and i started dabbling in that about three years ago. i ve been doing canyoneering for about a year with eric. this time, david is also going to be a cameraman. we thought it would be great to have it on camera and we could show other people what we do.
Of the canyon to the next. as eric falls, his life really does flash before his eyes. my thoughts go to my life, what i had accomplished, what i had done, my thoughts go to my family, you know, thinking i shouldn t see them again. hey, you okay? and he s feeling a searing pain. what caught my attention was the sound of the rope. at this point, i can feel the burns on my hands as i m trying to stop. i hit the side of the wall with the back of my head right here, and i believe that that knocked me out. you hear one hit, you hear the second hit and then you hear the final thump. in my mind, i m just wondering what just went on, what happened? david scrambles to the canyon s edge and peers down. i got into kind of panic mode. hey, you okay? i m like is he dead?
You are going to be going first. you re going to kiss your good-bye, right? you re not going to acknowledge that? i love you. david teases his friend as he hesitates at the edge of the cliff. the moment we ve been waiting for. i m a little nervous. it s a big drop. you re on the right one, right? yeah, that s right. i checked it. all right, man. 300 feet! it s almost immediately apparent there s reason for his caution. when he started rappeling, i just noticed it wasn t as smooth. eric knows everything is not okay, but he still thinks he can control it. the rope s feeding way too fast through the descending device, and so i even get a little bit more nervous. and something else is wrong with the rope. the rope was underneath him, starting to get tangled up and those knots happen on occasion, so he would stop, adjust it.
but what they re about to record is their worst nightmare. eric is planning to rappel 300 feet into the beautiful but dangerous englesteed canyon. you can t really see the bottom of it. it kind of blows your mind away, just the scenery of it. they choose a spot and david helps eric set up for the rappel. i quickly noticed how tall, how far 300 feet is. i was very, very nervous. there are all sorts of factors that can lead to death and injury as you rappel. they seem to have all the equipment. except for a helmet, a key piece of safety gear for climbing and rappeling. david tapes as eric sets up for the rappel, checking everything twice. david grabbed the camera and tried to document the first rappel and the canyon was set up perfect because it was in a little horseshoe shape, so he could hike to the other side of the canyon. all right, man.