A Santa Rosa, Calif., man who tumbled nearly 2,000 feet down the rugged slopes of Mount Shasta on Halloween and had to be airlifted to Redding on Sunday was released from the hospital a day later.
Julian Lopez, 43, and a friend set up camp at Lake Helen on Mount Shasta Saturday afternoon, and about 5 p.m. set out climbing Mount Shasta, the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office said in a news release. The two men, who had climbed the mountain before, followed the Avalanche Gulch route on the southwest flank of the mountain.
According to a Mount Shasta climbing guide on the Internet (www.climbingmtshasta.org), the Avalanche Gulch route "is one of the most popular and climbed routes in the United States." While the route is considered a non-technical climb, "an ice axe and crampons are a must for climbing this route, even during the late summer when most of the snow is gone because the chimneys of the Red Banks remain icy," according to the Web site.
About 10 p.m. Saturday at the Red Banks area — a volcanic outcrop named for its red rock — Lopez slipped and fell between 1,500 and 2,000 feet down the mountain. The helmet he was wearing shattered and he reported that he had a serious hip injury and could not move his legs. He called for help on his cell phone, but the cell phone lost power after several calls, sheriff's office spokeswoman Susan Gravenkamp said.
The men spent the night on a rocky outcropping with limited supplies. They had a little food, but most of their gear had been left behind at their base camp, she said.
Five Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office search-and-rescue volunteers and a mountain ranger with the U.S. Forest Service found them Sunday morning. The rescue crew guided a California Highway Patrol helicopter to the area.
Lopez was hoisted into the helicopter and flown down to Bunny Flat at the end of Everett Memorial Highway near Mount Shasta. A medical transport helicopter from Mercy Medical Center in Redding met the team there and flew Lopez to the hospital, where he underwent treatment for injuries that were described as serious by the sheriff's office.
He had been released by Monday morning, however, Gravenkamp said in an update.