Overview
- Search teams located a 19‑year‑old man and 20‑year‑old woman from Salt Lake City after about 36 hours on the mountain, with officials reporting the pair were found Tuesday and were uninjured.
- The hikers set out early for a day hike and reached Red Banks about five hours past the posted turnaround time, which led to getting off-route during the descent.
- They were under‑equipped for cold weather, spent a night in temperatures in the mid‑teens, reported reaching Lake Helen at about 2 a.m., and then lost phone contact when their batteries died.
- Siskiyou County search‑and‑rescue volunteers, CHP Air Operations and a U.S. Forest Service climbing ranger conducted the two‑day response and found the pair in Cascade Gulch trapped between cliffs of roughly 30 to 50 feet; rescuers helped them climb out.
- This was the third rescue in the Avalanche Gulch area in about a month, officials warned that the route is not recommended now because loose scree, rockfall and returning winter conditions make navigation and self‑rescue unsafe, and they urged climbers to plan earlier turnarounds, carry winter gear, and leave itineraries.