A Washington man died Sunday afternoon after falling nearly 500 feet from a cliff on Snowshoe Peak in Lincoln County.

The 24-year-old from Shelton, Washington, who wasn’t identified, was hiking with a group of people when he fell from a cliff above Leigh Lake while descending from the highest peak in the Cabinet Mountains, according to a press release from the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office. 

A helicopter from Spokane Regional Air Support Unit and members of David Thompson Search and Rescue responded to the area, but due to the lack of daylight the helicopter crew was unable to locate the hiker before dark.

The next day, Monday, members of David Thompson SAR returned to the area, located the hiker and relayed his location. The man was lying on a ledge about 1,900 feet above Leigh Lake after falling an estimated 500 feet, according to the press release. 

The helicopter from Spokane Regional Air Support Unit returned. 

Due to the location, air medics were unable to safely retrieve the hiker. The helicopter transported search and rescue members up to a safe area to work where they were able to access the hiker on ropes and recover his body. 

Matt Adams was climbing Snowshoe Peak with a friend the same day of the accident and encountered the group on their climb.

Adams said when he and his friend arrived at Leigh Lake Saturday, the trees were covered with frost.

“We hiked up to Leigh Lake Saturday and camped overnight before summiting Sunday and hiking out,” Adams said. “We encountered a group of about six or seven people who already reached the summit. 

“We spent a few minutes talking and they left first before we caught up with them and passed them on the way down,” Adams said.

He described the conditions Sunday morning as “still pretty frozen.”

“There was a little bit of snow and the freezing fog left the rocks that weren’t in the sun frosted. Where the sun hit the rocks, they were wet so the conditions were tricky. Coming down, it was still very slippery and as the temperature warmed, rocks loosened up,” Adams said. 

Adams and his climbing partner spent time figuring out their descent, considering the conditions.

“Everyone was mostly scrambling, it wasn’t really climbing,” he said. “We and they wore various types of footwear and had a wide spectrum of gear. Some wore trail running shoes, approach shoes and some had pretty heavy duty boots. No one we encountered wore helmets.”