Official: Man who died after coast cliff fall was abalone picker

An El Cerrito man who fell to his death late Tuesday afternoon while climbing up a Mendocino coast cliff had been abalone picking with a friend when they became trapped by the incoming tide and decided to climb up the cliff face to get out of the cove, a Mendocino County sheriff’s official said Wednesday.

Joel Falcon, 50, fell about 75 feet to the rocks below, said Mendocino sheriff’s Capt. Greg Van Patten.

The fall occurred at about 4:50 p.m., near a landmark called Hardy Rock.

, the man slipped or lost his grip and dropped to the ground below, apparently hitting his head, Cal Fire Capt. Jesse Torres said.

His companion was a 40-year-old El Cerrito resident. The two friends were camping at a KOA campground in Westport, north of Fort Bragg.

At about 4:50 p.m., near a landmark called Hardy Rock, the man slipped or lost his grip and dropped to the ground below, apparently hitting his head, Cal Fire Capt. Jesse Torres said.

The man’s companion called 911 and reached Cal Fire’s Howard Forest Station near Willits, where a firefighter gave him instructions over the phone on performing CPR, Torres said.

The man continued resuscitation efforts for a long period of time while emergency personnel attempted to get directions to his location.

But the men were out-of-towners, Torres said. Though the caller knew the pair had parked at a campground and walked from there, he had difficulty describing exactly how to find them, Torres said.

Members of the Westport Volunteer Fire Department, assisted by Fort Bragg fire personnel, eventually found the pair and made their way down the cliff, only to find that the victim was deceased, Torres said.

A Coast Guard helicopter and Cal Fire helicopter were dispatched but then canceled when the man was declared dead. The body was recovered via rope rescue.

Three abalone divers died together on April 12, just after starting out in rough waters in Mendocino County’s Caspar Cove. Multiple rescues of abalone divers in distress also have occurred this season in the ocean off of Sonoma County’s coastline.

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MaryCallahanB.