A Tooele City volunteer fireman died Saturday after he fell during a descent of Mount Nebo in Utah County.
Gregory Bronder, 40, was climbing the Wasatch Mountain peak with two other climbers in preparation of a hike up Washington state’s Mount Rainier. The three climbers were traversing a saddle between two peaks around 11:30 a.m. when Bronder fell about 1,500 feet and sustained fatal injuries, according to Utah County Sheriff Lt. Erik Knutzen.
Bronder and the other two climbers were descending from the peak when they reached a narrow, technical section of the descent, Knutzen said. The other climbers navigated the segment ahead of Bronder, who took a different approach and fell.
Bronder fell down a 60-foot straight drop, before tumbling for hundreds of feet down the pitch of the climb, Knutzen said. His fellow climbers quickly descended to Bronder’s position and attempted to revive him for over an hour, according to police.
It took medical personnel almost an hour and a half to reach the fallen climber on Mount Nebo, which is the tallest peak in the Wasatch Mountains at about 11,900 feet. A helicopter from the Department of Public Safety was used to transport first responders to Bronder, but he had died by the time they arrived, Knutzen said.
Tooele City Fire Chief Michael Jensen said Bronder was a knowledgeable volunteer fireman that had been with the department for five years.
“He was a very good fireman,” Jensen said.
Bronder was very safety conscious on the job and his family are in the thoughts and prayers of the fire department, Jensen said.
“Obviously fire service is such a tight community … it takes its toll,” he said.
Bronder was an avid mountaineer who was only one peak away from climbing every high peak in each county in Utah. Bronder is survived by his wife, Kayla and two children.
