MARIN COUNTY, CA — Five Marin County teenagers battled winds reaching 70 mph, freezing temperatures, and falling rocks to help rescue an injured Florida climber who spent two nights stranded high on Mount Shasta.
The five high school students joined a 30-person rescue team that carried the 39-year-old man across steep, rocky terrain Tuesday before a California Highway Patrol helicopter flew him off the mountain.
The teenagers were among 11 Marin County Search and Rescue members who joined the operation.
All five held rope technician qualifications, had at least two years of search and rescue experience, and had trained to work in high-altitude snow and ice conditions, according to SFGATE.
Among them was Cody Davis, a 17-year-old senior at San Marin High School in Novato.
"The higher up on the mountain we got, the windier and the worse the conditions got," Davis told SFGATE. "There were gusts even higher that were knocking some of our people off their feet."
The climber reached Mount Shasta's 14,179-foot summit Sunday after ascending the Avalanche Gulch route, according to Shasta-Trinity National Forest climbing rangers.
He later told rangers that his GPS navigation tool directed him down Whitney Glacier on the opposite side of the mountain.
The man wore sweatpants and a hoodie and carried trekking poles and a small amount of food and water. He lacked snow and ice equipment.
While descending the glacier Sunday evening, he stepped through a thin snow bridge concealing a crevasse and injured his leg. Unable to continue, he called for help.
The late hour and poor weather prevented rescuers from reaching him that night. He spent the night at 12,100 feet in what Forest Service rangers described as the mountain's coldest area.
"Don't take Mount Shasta lightly. Despite being only 15 minutes off the Interstate, it's a real mountain with real hazards. It can kill you, even the easiest route," according to the Mt. Shasta Avalanche Center.
On Monday morning, a helicopter delivered two Forest Service climbing rangers to Misery Hill near the summit.
They descended to the injured man, provided first aid, warmer clothing, food, and water, and moved him off the glacier to a more sheltered spot behind a boulder.
High winds prevented an air rescue Monday night, and the two rangers could not evacuate him alone. They stayed with him through his second night on the mountain.
By Tuesday, the man had developed advanced hypothermia, SFGATE reported.
Search and rescue volunteers from Siskiyou, Trinity, Marin, and San Mateo counties, Jackson County in Oregon, and the Bay Area Mountain Rescue Unit mobilized to evacuate him.
The Marin crew started hiking around 5:45 a.m., carrying a rescue litter, ropes, carabiners, and warming equipment, Davis told SFGATE.
Loose boulders and slippery terrain complicated the climb. Falling rocks struck some rescuers as they worked their way up the mountain.
"We had members who were even hit by rocks probably the size of soccer balls," Davis told SF Gate.
Rescuers reached the climber around 1 p.m. and began moving him toward the saddle between Mount Shasta and Shastina, a nearby subpeak. They used a technical rope system to lower him down a steep, rocky slope, according to the Marin County Sheriff's Office.
Between eight and 12 rescuers helped carry the litter at a time across gravel, boulders, snow, and ice, SFGATE reported.
CHP helicopters repeatedly tried to reach them as crews grew exhausted and some rescuers began showing signs of mild hypothermia.
Around 5:30 p.m., the weather briefly cleared enough for a helicopter to land.
"Ten minutes earlier, we thought we were gonna have to spend the night with the guy on the mountain again," Davis told SFGATE.
The helicopter evacuated the climber, who later received hospital treatment for injuries that included frostbite to his foot and leg, according to the Forest Service.
His latest condition was not immediately available.
Rescuers descended on foot, with the last crew members reaching the trailhead late Tuesday night. Shortly after returning home, the Marin team began preparing for another rescue in a different county, Davis told SFGATE.
The operation followed another Mount Shasta rescue the previous week. Two hikers from Salt Lake City spent an unplanned night exposed to 15-degree weather after a missed turnaround and a wrong turn.
The Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office received a distress call Oct. 12 about a man and woman stranded about 11,000 feet up Avalanche Gulch.
The 19-year-old man and 20-year-old woman lacked the equipment to safely spend the night at their location.
Forest Service rangers advise against using the Avalanche Gulch route beyond the summer months and recommend turning around at noon, even without reaching the summit.
Climbing information is available through the Mount Shasta Avalanche Center.
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