Mountaineer survives fall, night alone in Banff wilderness

A mountaineer is in hospital after tumbling off a mountain and spending a night alone and injured in Banff National Park.

The man and his friend were climbing Mount Temple, the highest summit in the Lake Louise area, when the accident happened Tuesday evening.

They were descending out of a steep gully on a route known as Black Towers, said Brad White, a mountain safety specialist with Parks Canada. They weren't roped together.

"One of the two tripped and took a fall and the last time his partner saw him he was cartwheeling out of sight down toward some very big cliffs," said White.

The uninjured man continued to call out his friend's name through the night , but he didn't get any response. The next morning he walked to the popular tourist spot of Moraine Lake to get help.

Meanwhile, the hurt man waited for help, alone on a "precarious perch," said White.

When rescuers found him Wednesday, he had a fractured skull and a broken leg, and was suffering from hypothermia.

"He was still conscious enough to wave as we flew by with the helicopter, so that was a gratifying sight," said White.

Rescuers later learned that the man had had a rope slung over his shoulder. As he fell, the rope caught on a rock and stopped him from falling to his death.

He's recovering in Foothills Hospital.