Climber Survives 500-Foot Fall and Crawls to Safety on Mount Shasta

Reaching the peak of a 14,000-foot-tall mountain is already a risky proposition, but when that climb concludes in the evening and then includes a 500-foot uncontrolled slide down the mountain, things can quickly go from risky to tragic. Fortunately, tragedy was avoided in a recent Mount Shasta climbing accident that saw a solo climber reach the summit before sliding down the side of one of California’s tallest mountains.

According to state officials, a San Jose Man whose name has not yet been released reached the summit of the 14,163-foot mountain around 7:30 p.m. on September 10. His cellphone died either just before he reached the top or shortly after, and trouble began during his descent. After losing control while attempting to glissade down the mountain, he suffered significant injuries to his feet and eventually had to remove his boots because of painful swelling. Faced with what seemed like an impossible situation, he crawled through the night until he found shelter.

The Climber Had Already Reached The Summit

According to multiple reports, the climber used the Avalanche Gulch route to reach the top of the mountain, which is roughly 60 miles away from the southern border of Oregon. On Thursday evening, he reached the peak at around 7:30 p.m., and the most difficult part of the journey should have been behind him.

Upon reaching the top, he found that his cellphone battery had died, leaving him with no way to contact his friends on the ground. When those friends did not hear from him by Friday, they reported him overdue to the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office. That call would become an important part of the eventual California climber’s rescue.

A 500-Foot Slide Changed The Descent

At some point after reaching the peak, the climber tried to glissade down a portion of the mountain. In climbing, a glissade is a technique used by climbers that involves sliding down a snow-covered portion of a mountain to rest tired joints that have been pushed during the ascent. Under certain conditions, it’s an effective way to quickly descend a mountain while preserving energy.

According to the Forest Service, he slid approximately 500 feet and suffered several significant lacerations and injuries to his feet. The accident left him facing a much more difficult problem than simply getting back down the mountain: He had to keep moving while seriously injured, without a working cellphone. The swelling in his feet became so bad that he had to remove his boots, so he started crawling.

He Crawled Through The Night

The most amazing part of the Mount Shasta climber rescue may have been what happened before rescue crews found him. After removing his boots, the climber began to crawl down the same route that he had taken up the mountain. The Forest Service later explained that he crawled down the remainder of the Avalanche Gulch route toward the Horse Camp Cabin, a shelter that Mount Shasta climbers have used for years.

Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Sage Milestone later told SFGATE that the climber was “very disoriented” when rescuers found him and could not give an exact account of where he had been injured. Because of the terrain below the snow line, Milestone estimated he would have had at least another 1.8 miles to crawl to reach shelter.

His Friends Helped Trigger The Search

While the rescuers who found the climber have rightfully received much of the praise, his friends who didn’t climb also deserve ample credit for his rescue. Since his cellphone was dead, there was no way for him to let his friends know he was injured, and rescuers couldn’t use the phone’s location feature to find him. His friends became the only link between an injured climber and rescue crews.

Search teams began looking in the Avalanche Gulch area around 2 p.m. Friday. Mount Shasta climbing rangers, Siskiyou County Sheriff's Search and Rescue volunteers, and a California Highway Patrol helicopter crew were involved in the search. About two hours later, another hiker entered the Horse Camp Cabin and discovered the missing climber.

The climber wasn't found because rescuers happened to stumble across him in the middle of nowhere. His friends knew where he was supposed to be, recognized that he had failed to check in, and reported him missing, giving crews a starting point for what would eventually become a heroic rescue.

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