Woman Falls 60 Feet Down a Mountain Trying to Save Dog

A woman is recovering after she fell 60 feet from a mountain while trying to save her dog.

Margaux Cohen, 36, was hiking Tricouni Peak in Canada with her dog Zion, her friend Max Stobbe and Stobbe’s cousin on Aug. 24 when they wandered off trail, according to Global News and The Squamish Chief.

While consulting a trail map, Cohen told Global News she and her group “saw that the trail was just across a little wall.”

“We assessed the situation. ‘The wall, can we down-climb it? Is it hard or anything?’ ” she recalled. “We decided that it was a pretty easy down-climb compared to things I usually do.”

Cohen said Stobbe climbed over first, after which she went over the wall second. But as they were traversing the wall, she told the Chief, Zion “slipped, lost his footing in a way, and he just started sliding down.”

“I had this instinct to just grab his harness,” Cohen said. “But I did not realize that by doing this, and because of his weight, I was just going to fall.”

The hiker said she dropped 60 feet, but “it wasn’t a straight fall.”

“I tumbled down like, four times. So I probably fell 20 feet, and then hit my face on rocks, and then fell again and again and again,” she told the Chief.

Cohen remained conscious during the fall — telling Global News she “would have preferred” to have actually lost consciousness “because I remember everything of my fall.” She sustained a leg injury, swelling and bleeding in her face.

When she looked down at her leg, Cohen told the outlet that she realized something was “really wrong” because it wasn’t “the right shape anymore.”

After hearing her screams, Stobbe came to Cohen’s aid and called 911. While Zion’s owner was injured, the dog seemed surprisingly content after the mishap, Cohen told the Chief.

“My dog was like, sitting next to me, just wagging his tail, like nothing happened, like he just had the time of his life,” Cohen said of Zion, who injured his paw in the fall but was otherwise unharmed.

Squamish Search and Rescue reached Cohen two hours after the incident, after which she was airlifted to the hospital, where she underwent two surgeries, the Chief reported.

PEOPLE has contacted Squamish Search and Rescue for additional information.

The fall left Cohen feeling grateful for her friend’s assistance and indebted to the rescue team that came to her aid.

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“I just believe that someone was watching over me that day,” she told Global News.

She added, “I’m obviously really grateful for Search and Rescue as well because I think they always do an amazing job. I love Search and Rescue — I’ve been watching their series online and I love what they do. I would love one day to be part of Search and Rescue myself.”

Cohen’s friend Emily Kasal has since organized a GoFundMe to help pay for medical expenses and veterinary bills.

“Margaux is one of the most kindhearted, adventurous, and resilient people I know,” Kasal wrote in the fundraiser’s description. “She has always been there to support others, and now she needs our help. Any donation, no matter the size, will make a huge difference for her and her furry best friend.”