CHILLY DESCENT

Hikers Rescued After 36 Hours Stuck 11,000 Feet Up Mountain

Temperatures on the mountain plummeted to 14-16 degrees.

Two hikers stranded for 36 hours in freezing conditions on Mount Shasta in northern California were rescued on Tuesday afternoon. The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office said it received a distress call at 10:20 p.m. on Monday from a 19-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman from Salt Lake City, Utah, who were freezing and unable to complete their descent. When they called, the hikers were at approximately 11,000 ft and had only planned for a day hike while their friend summited the mountain. They did not have adequate clothing, food, or water to safely wait out the night from their position, the sheriff’s office said, noting that temperatures on the mountain by this point in the night had plummeted to 14-16 degrees. They were told to continue their descent to stay warm, but their phones lost power after calling authorities at about 2 a.m. Tuesday to report their new position. Searchers located the missing hikers at around 4 p.m. on Tuesday. “Fortunately, both hikers were uninjured, and were ultimately able to climb out of the gulch with assistance,” the sheriff’s office said.