Hikers recount being stranded for three days after falling 800-feet from Riverside County mountainside speak

Two hikers who were stranded for three days after they fell 800-feet down a cliffside in the San Jacinto Mountains were finally rescued early Wednesday, somehow surviving the brutal winter elements. 

The rescue efforts began on Saturday afternoon, when authorities were alerted that the duo, Veda Lin and Christopher Ng, had fallen down Tahquitz Peak, located about 8,900 feet above Idyllwild, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office. 

A RSO helicopter was sent to the area and “made several attempts to hoist the victims,” but they were unable to do so due to powerful gusts of wind. There were also attempts from aircraft belonging to Cal Fire helicopter, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Orange County Fire Authority, but low clouds and high winds similarly prevented them from lifting the hikers to safety. 

Deputies said that volunteers from the Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit had made it to the hikers on the first night, but they were still unable to assist the ongoing rescue efforts from the several helicopters. They said that “mountain obscuration and high turbulence surface winds” continued to present difficulties, preventing their rescue. At night, deputies said that on top of the snow falling in the area, temperatures dropped to as low as 15 degrees Fahrenheit.

Both hikers sustained severe injuries in the fall and required hospitalization. 

On Wednesday night, KCAL News Assignment Desk Editor Mike Rogers spoke with them from their hospital beds at the Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs.

Lin and Ng said they were in the area for a simple day hike and weren’t planning on spending the night, hoping to be on their way home before sunset. 

“We ended up slipping on the ice up there, just lost our footing and ended up falling down,” said Lin. “Which we didn’t realize was 800 feet until we were with the search and rescue team.”

“We kinda held onto each other as we were falling,” Ng said. 

He suffered a fractured leg in the fall and frostbite to one of his feet, while Lin fractured her sternum, spine in several place and her face.

“Considering how everything went, the fact that we don’t have any permanent injuries, and as of now don’t need surgery, is really amazing and a miracle in and of itself,” Lin said.

When asked what was going through their heads as they fell, they had one simple answer. 

“Panic.”

As the pair fell, they said they tried their best to avoid large boulders with the limited sightline they had. 

“Trying to cover our heads and then, when we got to the bottom, a lot of it was panic … seeing if we could find each other, making sure that the other was alive and able to respond, seeing what we could do from there,” Ng said. 

They said that they were alone the first night after falling at around 3 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. They saw rescue helicopters flying overhead, but were unable to make further contact as Ng lost his phone and Lin’s phone lost battery. 

“Running through my mind was just, ‘We have to survive,'” Lin said. “We just have to make it through these next few hours, at least maybe until light comes and maybe there will be more hikers.”

It ended up taking longer than hours, quickly turning into days as they remained in the snow. Since they only planned to be there for a little, they simply had light jackets and sweat pants. 

“The first night, we huddled under a tree,” she recalled. “The tree blocked the wind, which was really nice. Most of it, it was still freezing, and like body warmth and heat held us together until search and rescue could get us.”

They said that they were spotted by teams but the winds kept them from being saved for days. Rescue teams on foot were working to assess the best way to reach their location as they had fallen lower down the mountain than they had initially thought. 

“What was really tough was hearing helicopters going overhead and then screaming towards them,” Ng said. “Obviously, it’s really windy and helicopters are loud so it was hard for them to find us. But just kinda having that little bit of hope but then not being able to get it was really tough.”

“There were also animal sounds,” Lin said. “I think that those were also kinda terrifying, cause if we’re not going to get rescued and the winds not gonna take us, then the animals would.”

When teams finally reached the couple, they were armed with sleeping bags, jackets and additional sources of heat to keep them warm, and that they were only alone for about 12 hours. 

Each had unconditional words of appreciation for their rescuers.

“It was just such amazing work from them, because they had to take care of us a swell as also fighting off the weather themselves,” Lin said. “You know when you’re a kid, and people say, ‘Who are your heroes?’ Your mom, your dad, your family, right? For me, the search and rescue team when they came in, they actually restored my faith in humanity. I think right now is a difficult time in the world for a lot of people and, you know, those people really gave it their all to save strangers.”

“So appreciative to them, they just really put it all out there,” Ng said. “They always had someone make sure that we were okay, even in the most stormy weather.”

In the end, they said the biggest source of comfort during the ordeal was being together.  

“Being huddled and having each other’s reassurance, I think really helped with the will power and determination to just keep it going,” Lin said. “If I can hear Chris’ breath, I need to also keep it together and we’re just gonna get through the night.”