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5 Marin teens face soccer ball-sized rocks, 70 mph winds in Mount Shasta rescue · Best of: Features

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  Five marantines face soccer ball sized rocks, seventy miles per hour winds
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  in Mount Shasta rescue. Written by Olivia Hebert This article is
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  being read by an automated voice generated by Everlett. Five
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  Marin County teenagers battled seventy miles per hour winds, freezing temperatures, and
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  falling rocks Tuesday as part of a thirty percent team, rescuing an
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  injured Florida climber who'd become stranded for two nights on Mount Shasta
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  The five high schoolers were among eleven Marin County search and rescue
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  members who carried the thirty nine year old man down the mountain
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  after he became lost while descending from the summit, Siskiyou County Sheriff's
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  Office, spokesperson Sage Milestone told SF Gate. After successfully zometing Mount
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  Shasta through Avalanche Gulch on Sunday, the climber veered off course while
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  following his GPS, ending up on Whitney Glacier on the mountain's north
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  side, Milestone said. At approximately twelve thousand six hundred feet, he broke
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  through a snowbridge and fell into a crevass, sustaining a severe leg
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  injury that left him unable to walk. It was just a very
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  dire scenario for him to get into, Milestone said. Nobody knew he
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  was up there. The climber, had not told friends or family where
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  he was going, and his car was parked on the opposite side
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  of the mountain, Milestone said. He managed to call nine one one
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  around five PM, but high winds and white out conditions prevented helicopters
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  from reaching him. After spending his first night lying on the glacier,
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  the climber, who was wearing only sweatpants and a sweatshirt, had little
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  food or equipment to withstand the freezing temperatures, Milestone said. Two O
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  US Forest Service climbing rangers reached the man Monday morning and provided
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  medical aid, Milestone said. The Rangers moved him away from the glacier's
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  falling rocks and stayed with him through a second night, as worsening
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  weather delayed his evacuation. By Tuesday, the climber was suffering from advanced
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  hypothermia, milestone said. With helicopters still unable to reach him, rescue crew
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  from Siskiw, Marin, San Mateo, and Trinity counties, along with Jackson County
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  in Oregon, mobilized for a ground evacuation. Among the was Cody Davis,
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  a seventeen year old senior at San Marin High School in Novato,
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  who joined four other teen rescuers from Marin. All five were trained
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  rope technicians with at least two years of search and rescue experience
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  and qualifications to operate in high altitude snow and ice conditions. The
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  Marin crew began hiking around five forty five AM, carrying a rescue
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  litter, ropes, carabiners, and warming equipment, Davis said. The higher up on
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  the mountain we got, the windier and the worse the conditions got,
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  Davies told S. F. Gate, noting winds reached sixty to seventy miles
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  per hour near the climber. There were gusts even higher that were
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  knocking some of our people off their feet. Falling rocks posed another
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  danger as rescuers navigated the steep, unstable terrain. We had members who
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  were even hit by rocks probably the size of soccer balls, Davis
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  said adding that rockfall was particularly severe during the ascent. Despite the
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  hazardous conditions, no rescuers sustained injuries that prevented Then,
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  from continuing, Milestone said. After several hours on the mountain, they reached
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  the injured climber around one PM and began moving him across steep
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  gravel, boulders, snow, and ice toward a landing zone between Mount Shasta
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  and its secondary peak, Shastina. Between eight and twelve rescuers helped carry
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  him at a time, as California Highway Patrol helicopters repeatedly attempted to
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  reach the mountain. Davis said the crews were exhausted, and some were
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  showing signs of mild hypothermia. Another night exposed to the elements appeared
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  increasingly likely. Then around five thirty PM, the weather briefly cleared enough
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  for a CHP helicopter to land. Ten minutes earlier we thought we
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  were gonna have to spend the night with the guy on the
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  mountain again, Davis said. The moment that everybody kind of saw the
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  helicopter actually on the ground, with the CHP paramedic waving us in,
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  everybody's eyes lit up. The climber was flown to a hospital, and
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  his latest condition was not immediately available. Although authorities initially reported that
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  he had fractured his leg, Milestone said rescuers later determined that he
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  had suffered a severe laceration and other injuries, but no fracture. Despite
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  their ages, the five teenage rescuers were hardly novices. We've all been
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  on the team at least two years. A few of us have
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  been on the team for three years, including myself, uh Davis said.
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  This is definitely like the highest altitude mission I think the five
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  of us have ever done. But the Marin rescuers had little time
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  to rest. Shortly after returning home, Davies said his team was already
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  preparing for another mission. We're headed back out to night for another
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  rescue in a different county, he said. No matter where in California
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  we need to go, we're able to do it as long as
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  we work together.