CUSTER STATE PARK - The fatal fall of a 16-year-old Kansas boy this week near Sylvan Lake has park officials urging visitors to use caution among the stunning granite spires, which can be as dangerous as they are beautiful.

"This is a real tragedy," park superintendent Richard Miller said Thursday afternoon as he and park ranger Jim Laverick examined the scene of the accident. "Because of the uniqueness of this area, it does draw climbers. But we really urge that people pay attention to their skill level and experience and use the appropriate safety measures."

At the request of the family, the Custer County Sheriff's Office is not releasing the name of the victim. The boy was on a hike with a group of young males, including his brother, when the accident occurred about 2 p.m. Tuesday along a rugged stretch of the Sunday Gulch Trail below the Sylvan Lake spillway.

The boy apparently was climbing without safety equipment and fell 30 to 40 feet onto a cluster of jutting rocks below. He died at the scene.

"He was the only one who was climbing," Custer County Chief Deputy Roy Scherer said.

Along with the sheriff's office, Custer State Park rangers, the Custer Ambulance Service, Custer County Search and Rescue and the Custer Volunteer Fire Department responded to the accident and carried out the body.

A red cap believed to have belonged to the victim was stuck in a crevice in the rock above the spot where he landed.

The extraction was complicated by the difficult terrain, marked by clusters of massive boulders and a steep rock trail where hikers rely on a metal handrail to help them get up or down.

The precipitous landscape around Sylvan Lake is world-class rock-climbing terrain with a variety of established routes marked by difficult-to-see climbing bolts driven into the rock.

"It's some of the best rock climbing in the world," said Laverick, a seasonal ranger who has worked in other states with popular climbing areas. "We get people from all over."

Sometimes, hikers decide to liven up their trips with some small-scale rock climbing and low heights, Laverick said. But sometimes, improperly prepared adventurers go beyond common sense, scramble up rock walls and panic. Then they require rescue, he said.

Some visitors engage in more organized "bouldering," where they climb without safety ropes at lower heights but also place padded mats on the ground and use spotters to make sure the mats are properly aligned below the climber.

Most traditional climbers rely on anchor bolts, pins, ropes and partners to reduce the chances of a serious or fatal fall, Laverick said. Daryl Stisser was doing just that with a group of climbers Thursday afternoon, not far from where the Kansas boy died.

Stisser, who operates a climbing school and guide service, said the accident victim apparently was operating outside the accepted principles of rock climbing - a risky adventure at best.

"In a lot of accidents like this, people refer to them as climbers, but they're really kind of rock scramblers," Stisser said. "When you go solo like that without any protection, anything can happen - a rock breaks, the wind blows, and you're gone."

Even well-planned rock climbs with experienced climbers and reliable safety equipment carry an element of risk, Stisser said. But the system is designed to protect the climber from the unexpected and reduce the degree of injuries if an accident does occur, he said.

"It's a very personal choice to go solo," he said. "There are no second chances."

Contact Kevin Woster at 394-8413 or kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com

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