10-Year-Old Helps Save Father’s Life Boy Hikes For Four Hours In Sawtooths To Get Help

A 10-year-old Boise boy hiked for four hours in the rugged Sawtooth Mountains to tell rescuers his father had suffered a broken back in a fall.

Ben Cowan’s actions likely saved the life of his father, Devin, as well as got his two brothers to safety.

Devin Cowan, 36, took his sons for a hike Sunday around Alpine Lake, intending to make it back to camp for dinner.

About 8:15 p.m., he decided to take a shortcut.

The group began climbing down a cliff - about 500 feet above the lake. But Alex Cowan slipped and fell. His father caught him, but then the two fell 30 feet, hitting a lower ledge which prevented them from dropping another 150 feet.

“I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t know what was going to happen,” said Ben, who remained on the upper ledge with Spencer, his youngest brother.

The boys could not see their father and brother and did not know whether they had been injured.

“We discussed it, and we decided, ‘If dad is conscious, we’re going to do whatever he says, because he knows best,”’ Ben said.

Alex had suffered only minor injuries.

The Cowans spent a cold night without sleeping bags, keeping one another awake so they would not roll off the ledge.

Shortly after 6:15 a.m. Monday, Ben climbed back up the mountain.

He finally reached camp and asked Forest Service rangers for help.

Rescuers and medical technicians made their way to the spot, while a helicopter from Boise’s St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center was dispatched.

“This is right up there in the top group of difficulty,” pilot Gary Brennan said.

Devin Cowan was diagnosed with a broken vertebra, but his spinal cord was not believed to have been damaged.

“I don’t think Devin would have made it another night,” said John Rathfon of the Ketchum Fire Department technical rope rescue team.