Utah climbers pinned down on a slab on Mt. Olympus during a storm were rescued Saturday night in what officials said was a “miracle.”
The trio was stranded on the West Slabs of the mountain in Salt Lake County on Saturday evening 100 feet below the summit, the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue said.
The climbers were hypothermic when rescuers tried to achieve them via helicopter that needed to turn around attributable to icing issues.
Two ground teams were also deployed but the damaging weather forced each group to show back.
Officials determined that weather conditions were too dangerous to send ground teams up the slabs, and they’d as a substitute send teams up the traditional summer trail to spend the night near the summit in case there was a break within the weather overnight.
“With temperatures imagined to drop to twenty degrees within the night, the three needed a miracle to make it through the night,” the agency said. And it happened.”
Officials said their probability to achieve the stranded climbers got here around 10 p.m. when the weather broke. The Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter hoisted the climbers off the slabs.
All three were hypothermic after spending five hours within the storm while wearing only light rain jackets, officials said. No update on the climbers’ conditions was immediately available.
Wayne Bassham, with Salt Lake County SAR, told FOX13 Utah that in what’s generally known as the “shoulder” season, the weather can change quickly, and climbers should be prepared with proper gear and clothing.
“Should you’re not dressed properly for it, it’s a game changer,” said Bassham. “You should have your summer gear, you should have your winter gear, you simply must have all the things you’ve got in your toolbox.”