A San Jose climber who survived a 500-foot fall down Mount Shasta dragged himself through the night to a remote cabin, where a passing hiker found him and raised the alarm.
The man, whose identity has not been released, had summited the 14,179-foot volcano in Northern California last Thursday before attempting to glissade down a snow slope that evening. The controlled slide turned catastrophic when he lost control and tumbled roughly 500 feet down the mountain’s face.
With his phone dead and his feet severely injured, the climber faced a desperate situation. He removed his boots because painful swelling made them unbearable to wear, then began crawling down the mountain through the darkness. The descent required him to cover several thousand feet of rocky terrain before he reached Horse Camp Cabin, a remote shelter miles below where he had fallen.
His friends had grown worried after losing contact with him and reported him missing, prompting search and rescue teams to launch an operation around 2 p.m. Friday. The climber’s friends also traveled down from the Bay Area to join the search effort.
A hiker discovered the injured man at the cabin and alerted authorities. Photos from the rescue show him limping alongside two helpers as he was helped to a California Highway Patrol helicopter for airlift to a hospital.
The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office praised the multi-agency response and the civilian who spotted the survivor. “The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank the USFS Climbing Rangers, SAR volunteers, and CHP Helicopter team for their assistance in this search,” officials wrote. “Additionally, we would like to thank the hiker that located the missing man and alerted authorities.”
The incident prompted officials to issue several safety recommendations for climbers attempting the peak, which rises about 60 miles north of Redding and is considered one of California’s most challenging summits. They stressed the importance of informing friends of hiking plans, as the rescued climber had done. They also urged climbers to plan their summit for no later than noon, well before the evening hour when this man was still descending. Finally, they warned against relying solely on GPS or phones for navigation, noting that the San Jose man made his way back down without a map after his device failed.
Mount Shasta, the state’s fifth-largest peak, draws thousands of climbers each year with its glacier-carved slopes and volcanic history, but its conditions can turn treacherous quickly, particularly for those attempting rapid descent techniques like glissading.
The climber’s condition following the airlift has not been publicly disclosed.