A climber became trapped behind an “extreme” rushing waterfall at a popular California rappelling spot for two harrowing days before being rescued, authorities said — calling his tale “a stunning survival story.”
Ryan Wardwell, 46, plummeted in an open space behind the waterfall while trying to rappel down the cliffside at Kern River on Aug. 10 when the cascade’s “extreme hydraulics” forced him off his line, according to the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office.
Rappelling is a type of climbing where, instead of scaling the wall upwards, daring climbers rig themselves at the top and make the descent to the base, often of a cliffside or other rock wall.
Wardwell was reported missing within a day after local law enforcement noticed his vehicle hadn’t budged from a lot near the park.
Officials employed every tool available from infrared technology to helicopters to try and locate Wardwell as the clock ticked.
But the Kern River is popular among daring hikers and climbers for a good reason — its rocky terrain and rough waters. The difficulties presented by the area’s natural landscape on top of fading sunlight forced responders to retreat and pick up searching again for Wardwell on Aug. 12.
The climber was eventually found by a drone behind the Seven Teacups waterfall, conscious but weak after the torturous two days surrounded by nothing but wet rock.
He was hoisted to safety into a helicopter hovering above the thick foliage and uneven rapids before being returned to dry land with a short catalogue of minor injuries, the sheriff’s office said.
Wardwell said he was flabbergasted by the ordeal, having scaled the falls several times before, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
He had embarked on the hike with a group of friends, but they all left before attempting the rappelling feat once they saw how strong the waterfall’s downpour was.
They then put a note on Wardwell’s car telling passers-by to report him missing if his car was still on the property by Aug. 11.
Wardwell, soaked to the bone after his fall, had tried to escape the waterfall himself, “but there was nothing he could do to break through,” Tulare County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Kevin Kemmerling told the outlet.
“There was no way for him to warm up or dry out in there, so it had to have been miserable,” Kemmerling said.
In April, another hiker took one wrong step and slipped over the edge of a cliff — where a rescue team found her clinging to the rocks with a “death-grip.”
Last spring, a rescue team recovered a missing elderly hiker after 30 hours of searching. Before finding the man, though, the crew ran into famed comedian Jay Leno, who unfortunately hadn’t seen the lost hiker.
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