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Man survives 1,000-foot tumble into Crater Lake caldera A helicopter carries a man to safety after he fell an estimated 1,000 feet down the side of the Crater Lake caldera Sunday. [Photo courtesy of Crater Lake National Park] Wednesday May 24, 2017 at 2:42 PM May 25, 2017 at 7:11 AM Nick Morgan Mail Tribune @mtcrimebeat A man survived a roughly 1,000-foot plunge into the Crater Lake caldera. The 22-year-old was rescued by helicopter and taken to a Medford hospital Sunday evening after he fell over the rim and tumbled down the crater just after 2 p.m., according to Crater Lake National Park spokeswoman Marsha McCabe. Park rangers had to rappel roughly 600 feet into the caldera just to spot the man, McCabe said. His fall landed him about 100 feet from the lake. "He was really pretty far down the caldera," McCabe said. The man was rescued "pretty quickly" with the assistance of Jackson County Search and Rescue. "We don't know what we'd do without them," McCabe said. The agency summoned a helicopter from Brim Aviation out of Ashland, which arrived on scene by 3:30 p.m., according to earlier media reports. Rescuers airlifted the man out of the caldera by 7 p.m., according to McCabe. After a helicopter rendezvous in Prospect, Mercy Flights airlifted the man to a Medford hospital. The extent of his injuries was not immediately known. How he fell isn't known, but McCabe believed slippery conditions on the rim played a role. "There's a lot of snow, and it's slick," McCabe said. McCabe cautioned park-goers to stay back from the edge during all seasons. "Even in the summer the rock is really crumbly," she said. McCabe didn't know the man's name, and Jackson County Search and Rescue couldn't immediately be reached for comment Wednesday. She said people have died in similar falls. "It's definitely a very dangerous situation," McCabe said. "He's really lucky." — Reach reporter Nick Morgan at 541-776-4471 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @MTCrimeBeat.