A helicopter-bound hiker was rescued on Sunday after she spent more than an hour clinging to the side of a steep cliff along the Pacific Crest Trail.
The frightening image of a woman clutching the side of a cliff with hundreds of feet of droplets was filmed in a bodycam video posted by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office Aviation Unit.
Rescuers responded to a 911 text message at 10:11am from the Whitewater Reserve area just south of San Bernardino County. According to the sheriff’s department, the woman used a Garmin-style communications device to send emergency texts.
Two helicopter pilots and three crew members discover an exhausted hiker is stuck away from the side of a cliff about 20-30 feet from the plateau. Authorities described the incident as “a fierce technical rescue” in an Instagram post.
The hiker’s shoes were barely clutching the rocks and she still had a heavy backpack full of supplies, officials said.
The rescuer came down from the helicopter – who told the pilot and direction as he moved along the cliffside, angering the woman. At one point the hiker screamed, grabbing and holding onto the rescuer’s ears instead of his body.
“He didn’t risk asking her to lift her arms. She was clearly dead, clutching the cliff to place the rescue strap,” the aviation team wrote on Instagram.
After a dangerous few minutes, the helicopter lifted the rescuers and hikers up to the top of the plateau. The unspecified hiker released her gear and immediately grabbed a bottle of water.
The hiker was not seriously injured, officials said. She appeared to have some bloody abrasions on her legs and knees on the video.
“They both had adrenaline dumps quite above,” the aviation team wrote.
It was a busy season for the rescue team.
The unit saved men and women on March 3rd along the Ridgeline Trail, about 9,000 feet above Idyllwild. Three hikers were also rescued along the Pacific Crest Trail on April 5th, with one suffering from serious medical distress.
