August 11, 2010 in Idaho

Idaho Boy Scout falls during hike, left overnight

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BOISE — Boy Scout leaders say they are looking into how an Idaho teen tumbled several hundred feet during a hike on Mount Borah with his troop and was left unconscious overnight.

Troop leaders didn’t immediately notice 14-year-old Colton Garner was missing during the outing on Friday and the Custer County Sheriff’s Office was contacted at about 9:30 p.m., about three hours after the boy’s fall.

Amanda Garner says troop leaders thought her son had skipped ahead of the group as they descended Idaho’s highest peak and didn’t start looking for him until they reached the bottom of the mountain.

The teen was found about 17 hours after his fall and is expected to fully recover from a chipped vertebra.

David Kemper is executive director of The Boy Scouts of America’s Ore-Ida Council, which has 14,000 members in Idaho and Oregon, and says he is waiting for reports from adults on the camping trip to determine what happened.

One comment on this story so far. Add yours!

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  Mickeyolson on August 11 at 2:05 p.m.

  What Adult doesn’t keep track of kids on a hike? I am a Boy Scout Leader and it is always your number one priority to keep those kids together. If that leader is saying that he/she allowed that young man to “skip ahead” is nothing but an excuse for neglect. It is common knowledge among leaders to stop and do a “buddy count” every so often. That leader should be held completely at fault. It’s leaders like this that give the entire program a bad name.