Four days after a 16-year-old boy fell several hundred feet to his death on Devil's Castle, dozens of climbers gathered at the same Alta ridgeline on Sunday, Aug. 23, to hear search-and-rescue crews and veteran guides talk about how to stay alive in the mountains.

The 13th Annual Climbing Festival, hosted by the Salt Lake Climbers Alliance, had been planned long before the Aug. 19 tragedy, according to Fox 13. But speakers said the teen's death transformed the event into something more urgent. Devil's Castle sits at the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon, minutes from Sandy, on terrain that has claimed lives before.

"It's sad, it's a 16-year-old kid… I'm sorry," said Damian Benegas, a guide with Wasatch Mountain Guides who has been climbing for 40 years. "Every time you lose someone, it's a big impact. So I think the most important thing is to use this as a learning process to create awareness."

The teen, whose name has not been released, was rock scrambling along the Devil's Castle ridgeline with three companions when he fell. A bystander witnessed the fall and called 911 at 7:13 p.m., according to Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office Captain Nate Lords. The DPS Aero Bureau located the boy from the air; paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene. Responders then guided his three companions safely off the ridge.

The route is roughly 4 miles round-trip with nearly 1,500 feet of elevation gain, rated strenuous, with exposed scrambling near the summit. In 1973, an 18-year-old from Sandy died after a 100-foot fall on the same formation, according to a Salt Lake Tribune report from that era.

What rescuers told climbers

Ryan Clerico, a Salt Lake County Search & Rescue member who has a 17-year-old of his own, urged festival-goers to recognize when a situation is deteriorating.

"Don't let one decision turn into three, four, five bad decisions, and the fifth one being a catastrophic decision," Clerico said at the festival. "If you realize you're in trouble, stop. Take a deep breath. Think about how you can get yourself out. If you can't get yourself out, call for help."

Salt Lake Climbers Alliance executive director Julia Geisler said the festival exists precisely for moments like this, adding that the goal is to increase climbers' skill sets and technical knowledge so everyone goes home to their families.

Shaun Deutschlander of Inspired Summit Adventures asked attendees to resist the instinct to blame the victim and instead examine their own practices on exposed terrain.

Three rules from search and rescue

Salt Lake County Search & Rescue officials shared three specific recommendations at the festival:

• Carry more water than you think you need.
• Tell someone where you parked and what time you expect to return before heading out.
• If you cannot get yourself out of a dangerous situation, call for help immediately.

Salt Lake County SAR also noted in a written statement after the Aug. 19 incident that scrambling often involves exposed terrain where a slip or loss of balance can have catastrophic consequences.

The Devil's Castle area was temporarily closed Aug. 20 for law enforcement operations and was expected to reopen Aug. 21.