A climber has miraculously survived a 1,500-foot fall down snowy Mount Shasta in California. The 31-year-old was one of three inexperienced climbers attempting the Left of Heart variation of the Avalanche Gulch route on Sunday, the U.S. Forest Service said. Rangers were alerted to the woman’s plunge around noon, but bad weather ruled out an airlift, so three of them climbed up on foot. The agency called the peak a “high-altitude mountaineering environment, not a hike.” One member of the injured climber’s party had already headed down to help haul gear, while another nearby mountaineer stopped to lend a hand. The injured woman was found in good humor with a suspected broken right ankle, among other injuries. Rescuers strapped her into a stretcher and brought her down to Lake Helen, where a California Highway Patrol helicopter flew her to Mercy Medical Center Mount Shasta. The agency warned that even seasoned mountaineers can run into fast-shifting weather, steep ice, and rockfall.
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