SEATTLE – A 62-year old hiker is recovering at Harborview Medical Center tonight after she slipped down the side of a mountain and then off a 40-foot cliff, said witnesses.
The woman's climbing partner, Bryan Harris, said she was extremely fortunate to be alive.
"One thing went wrong for her, but about 50 things went right," he said.
Harris credited a group of climbers from the Washington Alpine Club who were nearby and kept the woman alive for hours. Harris said one happened to be a search and rescue volunteer while another was an EMT.
The Seattle-area woman was about six miles up the Denny Creek Trailhead, off-trail near Kaleetan Peak, when she fell around 2:30 p.m., said King County Sheriff's Deputy Richard Barton.
Initially, she was unresponsive, bleeding from her head and breathing "very shallow," said Harris.
Pat O'Brien was with the group of six hikers and a dog that was summiting Kaleetan Peak.
"We had just gotten to the top when we heard the scream for help," he said, noting it appeared she slipped on "loose rock and snow and she had fallen over the edge, in a gully, and was at the edge of another drop."
While some members of the group held her to keep her from falling over the edge, others performed life-saving measures.
"Did first aid, stabilized her, called the cell phone," said O'Brien.
Barton said the higher elevations in the area still are covered in snow, and may have made the ground more treacherous.
"Once you get back into the wilderness, it's still very, very difficult conditions," he added.
While search and rescue teams headed up the trail to meet the hikers, King County's Guardian One helicopter also was dispatched to the scene. At about 5:30 p.m., paramedics were able to hoist the woman and airlift her to Harborview Medical Center.
O'Brien said considering how she looked when they showed up, they're relieved to hear the woman was conscious and responding to her husband at the hospital, according to deputies.
"After holding up her head for two and a half hours, we weren't sure she was going to make it," O'Brien said.
Harris said the woman climbs in the area nearly every day, and said he wasn't sure what caused her to lose her footing.
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