A stranded hiker was rescued by helicopter on Sunday after she spent more than an hour clinging to the side of a steep cliff along the Pacific Crest Trail.
The terrifying image of the woman clutching the side of the cliff with a drop that spanned hundreds of feet was captured in bodycam video posted by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office Aviation Unit.
Rescuers responded to a 911 text message at 10:11 a.m. from the Whitewater Preserve area just south of San Bernardino County. The woman sent an emergency text using her Garmin-style communications device, according to the sheriff’s department.
Two helicopter pilots and three crew members found the exhausted hiker stranded off the side of a cliff, about 20 to 30 feet from the plateau. Officials described the incident as “an intense, technical rescue” in an Instagram post.
The hiker’s shoes barely gripped the rocks and she was still carrying a heavy backpack full of supplies, officials said.
A rescuer descended from the helicopter — communicating directions with the pilot as he moved along the cliffside — and bear-hugged the woman. At one point, the hiker screamed and grabbed onto the rescuer’s ears instead of his body to hold on, video shows.
“He just could not risk asking her to lift her arms, that she was clearly death gripping the cliff with, in order to place a rescue strap on,” the aviation team wrote on Instagram.
After a perilous few minutes, the helicopter lifted the rescuer and the hiker to the top of the plateau. The hiker, who was not identified, released her gear and quickly grabbed a water bottle.
The hiker did not suffer any significant injuries, officials said. She appeared to have a few bloody scrapes to her legs and knees in the video.
“They both had quite the adrenaline dump once on top,” the aviation team wrote.
It’s been a busy season for the rescue unit.
The unit saved a man and a woman on March 3 along a ridgeline trail about 9,000 feet above Idyllwild. Three hikers were also rescued April 5 along the Pacific Crest Trail, with one suffering from serious medical distress.
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