Photographer Survives 60-Meter Fall in Madeira

Kyle Quinn Schrock fell from a height of about 60 meters in Madeira, but caught onto a bush and waited for a helicopter. He suffered serious fractures and is preparing for a long recovery.

Photographer Kyle Quinn Schrock Falls from a Cliff in Madeira

36-year-old travel photographer Kyle Quinn Schrock from San Diego was seriously injured while hiking on the Portuguese island of Madeira. He runs the popular Instagram page @everchanginghorizon, where he regularly posts photos from his trips around the world.

About a week after the accident, Schrock recorded a video from his hospital room and described what happened. He said he fell about 60 meters. The ground beneath him gave way—according to the GoFundMe fundraising page, this caused the fall. Schrock thought he wouldn’t survive, but a small patch of grass, like a bush, stopped him. He admitted that he didn’t believe it could hold him and was surprised that he managed to catch onto it.

As he clung to the slope, Schrock heard his friends calling from above: they said a helicopter was already on its way. The photographer said this was the best news he could have heard at the time. He had to pull himself together and find a way to keep from falling further—the position felt extremely unstable, and he didn’t trust his foothold.

Schrock held on until the helicopter arrived and took him to the hospital. He said he was in excruciating pain. The fall left him with fractures to his back, ribs, and sternum; he was prescribed strong medication for treatment.

“Ever since I got here, life has felt like it’s stopped,” he said. “I feel like I’m in a strange daze and can barely hold on to any sense of normal life.”

Schrock also emphasized that he was glad to be alive and grateful to his friends for calling the air ambulance. He said they did a great job.

The GoFundMe page says the photographer faces a long road to recovery. He will need help traveling to the US, with rehabilitation, and with ongoing medical care. Schrock hopes to return to traveling and “enjoy life” again.

In an interview with the Daily Mail, he said he used to work as an accountant. Schrock initially planned to spend six months on a road trip, but gradually became drawn to a lifestyle of constant travel.

“Eventually, I’d dreamed about traveling so often that I realized if I didn’t hit the road, I’d regret it,” he recalled. “Photography and social media helped me build an audience, and later, brands interested in working with me came along.”