Atz Lee Kilcher may have recovered from his horrifying hiking accident, but the Alaska: The Last Frontier star isn’t quite ready to put it all behind him. Atz is suing Otter Cove Resort, on whose land his accident took place, claiming that negligence on its part led to his fall and twenty-plus broken bones.
The Blast was the first to report on the Atz Lee Kilcher lawsuit, which seeks $100,000 in damages for the 2015 fall that led to Atz’s medical evacuation and yearlong rehabilitation. According to their article, Atz is claiming that the spot where he went over the cliff’s edge is “inadequate[ly] guarded,” that no signage “warned of sudden precipitous edge of the land/drop,” and that Otter Cove “failed to adequately warn of and/or provide measures to prevent guest and other individuals…from falling over the precipice at the resort.”
Further emphasizing its point, the lawsuit further adds that the spot “is deceptive and dangerous.”
However, a recent Inquisitr report notes that Otter Cove “den[ies] any liability, responsibility, or negligence” for Atz Lee’s fall; they contend that his engagement in outdoor recreation on the resort’s property is not by itself cause for a lawsuit.
But how far did Atz Lee Kilcher fall in his hiking accident? Atz’s first update following the August 11, 2015 incident made no mention of its specifics–Atz was, understandably, focused on the long recovery ahead. And he made it a point to stay positive, as always:
A few months later, Atz offered a second update on his fall and recovery. Again, there was no mention of anything involving how far he’d fallen, but the Instagram post did contain a few photos of Atz’s X-rays:
Then, exactly one year after his accident, Atz offered the third (and, so far, final) injury update, complete with more X-ray images, and thanks for all the well-wishes his fans had sent:
News reports in the wake of the incident didn’t note the precise distance that Atz fell–but they did continue to state that he was on Otter Cove Resort’s land, and apparently not within the boundaries of neighboring Kachemak Bay State Park. It’s also unclear if Atz fell from a precipice, or the side of one of the Bay’s many mountains–or whether he landed near the base of a mountain.
Still, thanks to Otter Cove’s hiking guide and elevation notes, we can gather something of a sense of how far Atz Lee fell in the accident. The resort’s most challenging hike appears to be 4.5 mile Sadie Knob Trail (it winds into the State Park, but has access from Otter Cove), which features an overall gain of 2,100 feet, along with “superb and expansive 360 degree views of Kachemak Bay, Sadie Peak, Sadie Cove, Eldred Passage and Cook Inlet volcanoes.”
Given how experienced a hiker Atz Lee is, it seems unlikely that he was on one of the resort’s less challenging trails. And the only more challenging hike–the 8.2 mile Grace Ridge Trail, which features a 3,145-foot summit–requires a water taxi across the bay to the State Park. Presumably, then, you’d have to leave the Otter Cove Resort to get to it–meaning it couldn’t have been where Atz was hiking when he fell.
In happier news, Alaska The Last Frontier Season 7 continues Sunday nights at 9 on Discovery.
(Photo credits: How far did Atz Lee Kilcher fall via Instagram, Discovery)
