Copter Rescues 17 Hikers After Night on Ridge

Seventeen cold and hungry hikers were rescued by helicopter Sunday morning after they had been stranded overnight on a dangerous ridge overlooking Big Tujunga Dam in the Angeles National Forest.

The hikers, members of the Chinese Outdoor Club of Monterey Park, used flashlights to signal the nine-member ground rescue team to the remote site after the rescuers had trudged five hours through thick brush to reach them.

“They were smart enough to just sit down and wait,” said Deputy Brian Tibbett, one of the sheriff’s deputies on the rescue team, made up of volunteers. “There’s always a danger when you’re dealing with steep terrain like that, but they knew it was just a matter of time before we got there.”

The hikers were airlifted in two trips by a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department helicopter from the 3,228-foot-high site and flown to the command post at Condor Ridge. None of the hikers were injured.

Tibbett said the hikers used walkie-talkies to notify other campers in their group that they were stranded on a peak between Hansen and White Oak canyons about 8 p.m. Saturday. Rescuers began their trek about 9 p.m. and didn’t reach the hikers until 2 a.m. Sunday.

Sheriff’s deputies said the five female and 12 male hikers were spotted by a U.S. Department of Forestry helicopter before rescuers began their march up the chaparral-covered mountain. When the rescue team reached the group, fatigued deputies decided to wait until sunrise before lifting the hikers to safety.

“Everything was basically under control,” Tibbett said. “Everyone was just tired and hungry and a little cold. But we had blankets and food for them, so all of us just camped overnight.”

The hikers, who ranged in age from 8 to 50, began their climb into the steep terrain about 9:30 a.m. Saturday from their campsite at Lightning Point, according to sheriff’s deputies. The group got stranded on a rugged trail about three miles from the scenic area overlooking Big Tujunga Dam when it became too dark to find their way out.

Their planned day hike turned out to be nearly a 24-hour trip. They finally were reunited with the rest of the 160-member outdoor club about 7:30 a.m. Sunday.

The Sheriff’s Department “Aero Bureau,” operating out of Long Beach, landed one of its big Sikorsky S-58T helicopters on a flat area near the ridge and whisked the hikers and rescuers to safety. The helicopter was manned by members of the sheriff’s elite Emergency Services Detail.

Tibbett, who works out of the Sheriff’s Department’s Crescenta Valley station, said the 17 campers were “very, very happy” when the rescue team reached the stranded hikers.

“But they were even happier to get back to their campsite this morning,” he said. “All of us were.”