South Dakota man in critical condition after mountain fall

BILLINGS, Mont. – A 19-year-old South Dakota man is hospitalized in critical condition after falling while climbing the highest mountain peak in Montana.

Harborview Medical Center spokeswoman Susan Gregg said that Thomas Craig Pfeifle of Rapid City was in critical condition Tuesday and being treated for a head injury, the Billings Gazette reported.

Pfeifle was injured Monday morning in a fall on Granite Peak, a 12,800-foot peak in the Beartooth Range north of Cooke City. He was flown to a Billings hospital and was transferred to Seattle.

Pfiefle is the son of South Dakota 7th Circuit Court judges Craig Pfeifle and Jane Wipf Pfeifle.