A Utah man fell to his death while hiking up a mountain on Saturday, leaving his fiancé's 9-year-old son to climb down by himself, according to the Utah County Sheriff's Office.
Police responded to a report on Saturday night of a man, 40-year-old Adrian Vanderklis from Roosevelt Utah, and a boy missing near Bridal Veils Falls at Provo Canyon in Utah. The woman who made the call, identified as Vanderklis' fiancé, said she could see her son crying but could not locate her fiancé and she had not seen him for "several hours."
Authorities found Vanderklis' body on a steep, near vertical slope at an elevation of around 5,800 feet. They determined he fell and did not survive his injuries, dying immediately.
Responders recovered his body the next morning and airlifted it off the mountain.
It's unclear why Vanderklis fell, but officials speculate it could be because he stumbled or slipped on loose material. The boy was with him during the tragedy, but did not see him fall.
