Matthew Robert Clark

Matthew Robert Clark helped rescue Stephen Parson from trauma while suspended above a cliff, Duncan, British Columbia, February 6, 2026. Parson, 75, crashed his hang glider into a tree in a vertical gully on the side of 2,585-foot Mount Prevost, about 200 feet from the top, where he hung semiconscious in his harness with several fractures, a gashed leg, and a concussion. In addition to his injuries, his harness straps dug into his legs and began to cut off his circulation, creating a life-threatening situation. At the bottom of the mountain, Clark, 24, electrician, was among several paragliders who had landed in a field when they heard on their radios that Parson had crashed high up on the mountain. Clark, along with two paragliders and a police officer, drove and hiked up the mountain to the base of a steep incline below the gully where Parson hung in the tree. Clark, the police officer, and one of the paragliders climbed the 40-foot, 45-degree slope and reached the bottom of a vertical “chimney” rock formation, about 27 feet high. Without climbing gear, Clark scaled the narrow chimney by free-climbing, placing his back against a slippery, mossy side and his feet against the other for optimum traction. Clark then climbed up another short incline to Parson and cut him out of his harness with a knife, then dragged him down that slope to a level area near the edge of the chimney. There, he performed first aid on Parson and awaited rescue teams. Two teams arrived, but were unable to reach them. Clark remained with Parson several hours until a rescue helicopter arrived and lowered a doctor to stabilize Parson enough for the crew to hoist him out and transport him to a waiting ambulance. The helicopter then returned and extracted the doctor and Clark. Parson spent eight days in the hospital with a concussion, broken ribs, fractured wrist, and a gash to his knee; he also did walking and stretching exercises for weeks to regain full use of his legs from the suspension trauma, and fully recovered. Clark was not injured.