On Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023, at approximately 3:19 PM, Gallatin County dispatch received a call from a GPS device monitoring service. A device the company monitors had recently been activated near Grotto Falls in Hyalite Canyon. Gallatin County dispatch later received a 911 phone call from an eyewitness stating an ice climber had fallen and was injured. The patient was identified as 36-year-old Montana resident and avid ice climber, Kyle Allen Rott.

Gallatin County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue volunteers along with Two Bear Air and Billings Clinic Med-Flight helicopters responded to the Grotto Falls trailhead. Five teams of search and rescue volunteers were deployed to the area where Rott was located. Search and rescue volunteers provided initial medical treatment to Rott who was eventually hoisted from the area by Two Bear Air and taken to Bozeman Health Deaconess Hospital where he later succumbed to his injuries.

Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office coroners responded to the hospital where Rott was determined to have died accidentally, caused by blunt force trauma of the head, sustained during an ice climbing fall.

Sheriff Dan Springer would like to express his condolences to Mr. Kyle Rott’s family in South Dakota and his friends. Sheriff Springer also thanks all the dedicated search and rescue members who responded so quickly.