Video: Stranded teen rock climbers hoisted by rescuers into helicopter

By Brooke Baitinger
The Charlotte Observer

LAS ANGELES COUNTY — A pair of teenage rock climbers were rescued after getting stranded overnight on a frigid Southern California mountain, officials said.

They were climbing Tahquitz Peak when a storm swept in and trapped them about 900 feet up the side of the mountain as temperatures dropped, KTLA reported.

They didn’t have the proper gear for an overnight stay in low temperatures, and they had developed hypothermia by the time rescuers and paramedics plucked them from the rocky peak on Sunday, Oct. 23, rescuers and KTLA reported.

A helicopter from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Special Enforcement Bureau assisted in the rescue, the department said on Twitter. The department shared dramatic video footage of the rescue efforts that showed rescuers descending from the helicopter and hoisting the climbers inside the chopper.

The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tahquitz Peak is in the San Jacinto mountain range about 110 miles east of Los Angeles.

Two rock climbers died on the same mountain nearly a month ago, McClatchy News previously reported.

One of them was 31-year-old former NFL player Gavin Escobar, and his climbing partner, 33-year-old Chelsea Walsh. Both were from Huntington Beach.

Another hiker died in the same area earlier this year after sustaining injuries from a fall. The death followed others in the same vicinity, leading “one law enforcement agency to warn people to take precautions if hiking,” according to the Desert Sun.

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