Camper Lucky To Have Survived Fall -- 5 Or 6 Have Plunged To Death Near Falls

The 22-year-old Fall City man who fell 150 feet down the side of the Snoqualmie Falls basin yesterday morning is lucky to be alive.

In the past 20 years, more than a half-dozen people have plunged to their deaths over the ledge of the basin.

Matt Mueller was listed in satisfactory condition at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle today after being airlifted from the base of the falls. He was in intensive care, suffering from two collapsed lungs.

"I'm really surprised he survived," said Snoqualmie Police Chief Don Isley.

Mueller is lucky in another sense, too: Although more than 40 King County police and search-and-rescue workers helped rescue Mueller, the county doesn't charge for its services.

Isely said Mueller and his friend, Corey Busby, may be charged with criminal trespass for camping in an area that is clearly off limits.

Isely and Puget Sound Power & Light Co. spokeswoman Kristen Wappler said five or six people have plunged to their deaths.

Most committed suicide by jumping over the north side of the falls, where the observation deck is.

But there have been accidents as well. In September 1982, a Bellevue man scaled a 5-foot fence and climbed down a grassy slope in an attempt to retrieve a camera case on the ledge. He then slipped and fell 200 feet to his death.

Police say Mueller and Busby were camping on the south side of the rim of Snoqualmie Falls, directly across from the observation deck, when they decided at 4 a.m. to build a bonfire and watch the sun rise.

While collecting wood for the fire, Mueller slipped on the icy ledge and plunged more than halfway down the cliff, which is as high as 300 feet in some spots.

His fall was broken by brush and rocks.

Busby ran to the home of a Puget Power official who lives on the site and told him to call 911.

It took rescue workers more than three hours to reach Mueller because he landed 100 feet above the basin, on a steep, icy bank.

Puget Power's Wappler said the utility has not decided whether to press trespassing charges against Mueller and Busby.

"We'll certainly look at the area to determine if we need more security," she said.

Isley said the two men must have walked by several "No Trespassing" signs and over a dangerous railroad trestle to reach the south side of the basin, which is closed to the public.