STAR, Idaho — A death-defying story of survival in Riggins after a Star woman drove her car off the side of a cliff late at night.
Nicole Opper considers herself lucky to be alive after surviving the most traumatic night of her life, which included spending 12 hours severely injured and stuck on the side of a riverbank.
"I never lost hope. I was scared, yes, but I was in survival mode," nodded Nicole Opper.
The 33-year-old Opper was heading back to Star after visiting a friend in northern Idaho earlier this month. She stopped for the night in Riggins, where she planned to camp in her car up Big Salmon Road. But when she got there, she suddenly realized she'd left her purse at a restaurant in town. She turned around at around nine p.m., and that's when things took a turn for the worse.
Opper explained, "A corner came up on me a little too fast, and I over-corrected and hit that guard rail, and everything went black."
Nicole's car ended up plunging backwards down the side of a cliff. Opper says that when she woke up, she tried to get out of the car.
"I couldn't get my door open, so I climbed out through the window. And that side of the hill was so soft, I just slid down it. I tried a few times to climb back up and push myself up, and I couldn't," said Nicole.
Nicole had several serious injuries. A broken clavicle, eight broken ribs, a fractured femur and vertebrae, and a partially collapsed lung.
Opper went on, "I was hollering all night. Trying to get people's attention. I was watching cars drive by, and finally I heard a car door."
Around 8:30 the next morning, Ashlyn Carlson was driving with her daughter when she noticed something off.
"For some reason, my daughter and I hop out and are checking out the skid marks, and then she calls up to us. I knew there wasn't cell phone service, so I told her we had to go get cell phone service and we would be right back," explained Carlson.
Nicole smiled, recounting the moment. "This feeling comes over me like, ok, someone knows I'm here."
Ashlyn called 911, and her sister in-law who brought a med bag to render first aid until paramedics arrived. Getting Nicole up the hill wasn't going to happen, so one local offered up his boat to get Nicole down the river, where she was eventually flown to a hospital. Days later, Nicole's father and brother drove to the crash site, where they met the men and women who helped save Nicole's life.
"I stayed in touch with every single one," said Nicole's father, fighting tears.
Tearing up herself, Nicole finished by saying, "I know it was probably eye-opening and hard on some of them, [but] I appreciate it. It's a huge part of why I'm here."
To pay for the extensive medical bills, a GoFundMe has been set up in Nicole's name.
Nicole says she loves being in the outdoors and looks forward to the future when her injuries heal, allowing her to get back out doing what she loves.
