Two climbers were airlifted to safety after a helicopter crew spotted them stranded 600 feet below a Big Sur roadway.
The rescue unfolded near Hurricane Point on Aug. 22, just north of Big Sur, according to the California Highway Patrol (CHP). Big Sur Fire requested help from the CHP’s Paso Robles Air Unit around 6:24 p.m. That Saturday evening.
When CHP’s H-70 helicopter arrived, its crew spotted the two climbers stuck in a steep chute far below the roadway. The terrain proved so perilous that the climbers could not safely get off the helicopter’s hoist hook on their own, prompting rescuers to deploy a specialized helicopter rescue technician.
The technician was lowered to the stranded climbers while remaining attached to the aircraft’s hoist. Once on the cliffside, the rescue technician secured the first climber inside a Pelican rescue harness.
The helicopter crew then performed what officials called a “double extraction,” lifting both the technician and the first victim from the dangerous terrain and bringing them to rescue personnel waiting at a staging area. The helicopter then turned around and headed back toward the cliff for the second climber.
Using the same technical-hoist maneuver, crews successfully extracted the remaining victim and brought both climbers to safety.
CHP described the operation as the kind of high-risk rescue its air crews repeatedly train to handle, warning that the combination of steep terrain, helicopter hoisting and difficult environmental conditions leaves virtually no room for mistakes.
“These high-risk, low-frequency rescues are exactly what CHP Air Operations personnel continuously train for,” the agency said. “There is no room for error when operating in steep terrain, under hoist, and in challenging environmental conditions.”
Officials did not immediately release additional information about the climbers, including what led them to become stranded or their identities.
The dramatic rescue occurred against the backdrop of another emergency in the region, the Timber Fire, which began Aug. 8 in the Los Padres National Forest. Hurricane Point sits outside the fire’s evacuation zone. As of Monday, the blaze had scorched more than 12,000 acres and was about 25% contained.
CHP thanked the agencies and personnel involved in the operation for their coordination and professionalism in pulling off the dangerous rescue.