Photographer Kyle Quin Schrock Survives 200-Foot Cliff Fall in Madeira

Adventure photographer Kyle Quin Schrock fell roughly 60 meters, about 200 feet, from a cliff on the Portuguese island of Madeira and survived. The 36-year-old from San Diego broke his back, his ribs and his sternum in the fall. He is now recovering in hospital and expects a long road back.

Schrock runs the Instagram page @everchanginghorizon, where he documents his travels around the world. About a week after the accident, he posted a video from his hospital bed in Madeira to explain what happened.

"Brief intermission from beautiful photos to show where I'm at right now," Schrock says in the clip, visibly in pain.

How did the fall happen?

The ground beneath Schrock gave way while he was hiking, according to a GoFundMe page set up to support his recovery. That collapse sent him about 60 meters down the cliff face. He expected to die.

"I thought it was my death, but eventually got caught on a piece of grass, like a little bush," Schrock says. "Did not feel strong enough for me to get caught on. I was very surprised."

The vegetation arrested his fall, but it offered no secure footing. He describes the position as precarious. The bush, in his words, did not feel strong enough to hold him.

His friends were above him on the cliff. They called for a helicopter and shouted down to him that it was coming. "And that was the best news that I could ever get," he says.

The wait was the hard part. Schrock says he had to hold position and "figure out how not to fall off that cliff." He stayed on the bush long enough for the air rescue team to reach him and fly him to hospital.

Takeaway: a clump of grass and a fast helicopter crew saved his life.

What injuries did he suffer?

The fall left Schrock with a broken back, broken ribs and a broken sternum. He describes being in an "extreme amount of pain" and on heavy medication.

The recovery has disoriented him. "Life has stayed so still since I got here," he says. "I feel like I've been in a weird daze. Really struggling to maintain any normalcy."

Still, he counts himself fortunate. "I am alive; I'm grateful to be alive," he says. "Grateful to have friends. They called the life flight for me. They did an awesome job."

Takeaway: the injuries are severe, but his outlook remains grounded in gratitude.

What happens next?

The GoFundMe page states that Schrock faces a "long road to recovery." He will need help with travel, rehabilitation and further medical needs once he returns to the United States. The fundraising page carries the hospital image credited alongside reports of the accident.

Despite the injuries, Schrock intends to return to the life he has built. He says he will get back out there and "enjoy life again."

Who is Kyle Quin Schrock?

Schrock was not always a traveling photographer. He told the Daily Mail that he began his career as an accountant. He originally planned a six-month road trip, then fell in love with the traveling lifestyle and never stopped.

"Eventually, all the daydreaming convinced me that if I never got out and traveled I would regret it," he said. "Through photography and social media, I was able to gain a following and eventually attract some brands who wanted to work with me."

His trajectory tracks a familiar pattern in adventure photography: a self-taught shooter builds an audience on Instagram, converts that following into brand partnerships, and makes the road itself the workplace. That workplace carries real risks. Cliff edges, loose ground and remote terrain are part of the job, and Schrock's accident shows how quickly the setting for a photograph can turn lethal.

Takeaway: the image economy of social media runs on photographers working in places that do not forgive mistakes.

Schrock's recovery will unfold over months, first in Madeira and then in the United States. His own words point forward: he plans to heal, travel again and keep making pictures of the horizons that nearly killed him.