A California Highway Patrol (CHP) helicopter crew successfully rescued two climbers who were stranded on a steep cliffside in Big Sur, California. The climbers found themselves approximately 600 feet below the roadway near Hurricane Point.
Big Sur Fire requested assistance from the CHP’s Paso Robles Air Unit around 6:24 p.m. on Saturday. Video released by the CHP shows the H-70 helicopter hovering over a steep ravine while a rescue technician was lowered on a cable to reach the stranded pair.
The terrain was so challenging that the rescue technician could not safely detach from the hoist hook after reaching the first climber. Instead, the technician secured the climber in a specialized harness, and both were lifted together to a staging area. The helicopter then returned to the ravine to perform the same maneuver for the second climber.
Both individuals were brought to safety and survived the incident. The CHP has not released the climbers' identities or details on how they became stranded.
The CHP Air Operations unit stated that these types of high-risk rescues are what their personnel train for continuously, emphasizing that there is "no room for error when operating in steep terrain, under hoist, and in challenging environmental conditions."
This rescue operation followed other missions for the H-70 crew on August 9. Earlier that day, the crew, in conjunction with a Paso Robles Fire Department rescue technician, hoisted an injured 13-year-old hiker from Pinnacles National Park. Later, the same crew rescued an individual who sustained severe injuries after falling from a waterfall in Big Sur Gorge. The H-70 also responded to a call in Los Padres National Forest, where a hunter suffering from heat exhaustion and dehydration was safely brought aboard the helicopter using a hover step-on maneuver and transported to medics.
