Bone-chilling ordeal for freezing hikers stranded for 36-hours on notorious California mountain

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Two young hikers endured a freezing, 36-hour ordeal on California’s Mount Shasta after losing their way in treacherous terrain, becoming trapped between towering cliffs and running out of phone battery as a frantic rescue played out to find them.

The 19-year-old man and 20-year-old woman, both from Salt Lake City, called for help around 10:20 p.m. Monday, Oct. 12, after becoming too cold and exhausted to safely complete their descent from the 14,179-foot mountain, according to the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office.

The pair had planned only a day hike while a friend continued to the summit. But by the time they called for help from the Avalanche Gulch area at roughly 11,000 feet, temperatures had plunged to between 14 and 16 degrees — and they lacked adequate clothing, food and water to safely spend the night.

Deputies advised the hikers to keep descending to maintain their body heat. By 2 a.m. Tuesday, they reported reaching Helen Lake, at approximately 10,400 feet, before their phones died shortly afterward.

Search-and-rescue crews and California Highway Patrol Air Operations launched a desperate search Tuesday morning, scouring the mountain’s upper reaches for the missing pair.

Around 9 a.m., a CHP helicopter spotted two people waving for help — but they turned out not to be the missing hikers.

Ground crews and aerial teams continued searching throughout the afternoon, with a second team of search-and-rescue volunteers and a US Forest Service climbing ranger focusing on Cascade Gulch below Horse Camp.

At around 4 p.m., searchers heard shouting from the gulch and finally located the stranded hikers near the bottom, about 1,000 feet from the McBride Springs Trail.

The pair had wandered into the steep, dry river canyon after reaching Horse Camp around 5 a.m. Tuesday and being unable to see the trail. They traveled roughly three miles down the drainage before becoming trapped between two cliffs measuring 30 to 50 feet high.

Fortunately, both hikers were uninjured and managed to climb out of the gulch with assistance.

By the time they were rescued, the pair had been on the move for approximately 36 hours after setting out at 4 a.m. Monday.

They had reached Red Banks on the Avalanche Gulch route around 5 p.m. Monday — five hours past the recommended turnaround time for climbers on Mount Shasta, authorities said.

The sheriff’s office thanked search-and-rescue volunteers, Mount Shasta climbing rangers and CHP Air Operations for bringing the hikers to safety.

But officials warned that the rescue was the third of its kind on the Avalanche Gulch route in the past month.

The route is not recommended at this time of year because of deteriorating conditions, rockfall and the return of winter weather, according to warnings posted at the Bunny Flat trailhead.

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