In a post to their Facebook page on Apr. 26, the Emery County Sheriff’s Office shared that a 24 year old man lost his life in a hiking accident in a side canyon of Cottonwood Canyon above Orangeville.
The victim, Matthew J. Schnitzer from New York, had been camping in the area for about a week. On Apr. 22 he and his friends were hiking when the friends decided to return to camp, but Schnitzer continued hiking.
When Schnitzer failed to return to camp his friends started to look for him, and after failing to locate him, the friends notified local authorities. A state department of public safety helicopter crew located Schnitzer’s body at the bottom of an 80 foot cliff.
According to the post on Facebook “it appears that Schnitzer lost his footing on the slope above the cliff and slid off the edge.” The helicopter crew used a hoist to lower State personnel to the location of the body. The helicopter then transported the body from the scene and his family was notified.
