Fallen Hiker Lost Below Tram

[Cy Kaicener]

The search is on for a fallen hiker below the Palm Springs Tramway. He used his cell phone to call Search and Rescue after falling several hundred feet
http://www.rmru.org/missions/2009/2009-002.html

Meanwhile at the Suicide Rock area near Humber Park in the Tahquitz drainage a missing hiker was rescued after a night in the snow
http://www.rmru.org/missions/2009/2009-001.html

[bluerail]

I don't think last night would have been a pleasant night up there. We had alot of wind and a good bit of rain in LQ last night, so Im pretty sure there had to have been some weather up there.

[plm]

I don't think last night would have been a pleasant night up there. We had alot of wind and a good bit of rain in LQ last night, so Im pretty sure there had to have been some weather up there.

30-40 MPH winds and sub-zero windchill at 7,500 feet. Or so a little bird told me...

[Cy Kaicener]

rmru has updated its news that the hiker was hiking up the Skyline trail in shorts and a tee shirt. Its very windy up there so the rescuers will have to hike him out. I hope he had the strength to dig a snow cave before he became hypothermic.

[magikwalt]

From the Desert Sun

A hiker who used his cell phone to call for help Thursday after getting lost and falling several hundred feet somewhere below the Palm Springs Tram, was rescued Friday morning, Riverside County Sheriff's Department officials said. The man began his hike from the Palm Springs Art Museum and was walking up into the San Jacinto Mountains when he lost his way. Officers made contact with the man last night and were assisting him down the mountain this morning. Riverside Mounted Rescue Unit search teams located the man late Thursday night. According to RMRU reports, it appears the man had been hiking up the Skyline Trail in shorts and a T-shirt and had been incapable of continuing to the top. He was hypothermic in 30-40 mph winds when found at the 7,500 foot level. The team placed him in a sleeping bag, gave him warm liquids, and stayed with him all night. Palm Springs Mounted Police assisted in the rescue. Rescue team members hiked the man out of the mountains early this morning.

[Marknhj]

Anyone up there in T-shirt and shorts yesterday afternoon needs their head examined.

You only had to look up at noon to see weather coming. By 2pm clouds were 5000' or lower and by 4pm it was getting nasty on the desert floor never mind the higher reaches of Skyline. This person is very lucky to still be around...

[bluerail]

well Mark, on the positive side, you wouldn't have had to been loaded down with a ton of water yesterday.

[zippetydude]

I almost exclusively do Skyline in shorts and a shirt, even in the snow. I got to the top once and it was 29 degrees. I was fine until I stopped (I was glad to get into the tram terminal!), which sounds like is what happened to him. He somehow got lost and fell - very bad for any of us, so his surviving was a good measure of luck, but sometimes that's what gets us through.

I'm about all funned out with the snow this season - I'm already looking forward to clear trails and soft summer breezes.

z

[Cy Kaicener]

We now have more details of the rescue including the man's identity, and when he started.
http://www.mymurrieta.com/wordpress/?p=3852

[Jim Bakos]

The mission write-up and photos are posted on the RMRU website.

www.rmru.org

--Jim