CHP helicopter crew plucks 4 climbers off peak near Mt. Whitney

A California Highway Patrol helicopter crew and an Inyo County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team member helped four climbers get off the side of a peak near Mt. Whitney on Sunday.

In a Facebook post, the sheriff’s office said the climbers went the wrong way while descending from 14,088-foot Mt. Russell and got stuck on a cliff around 13,000 feet with no way to keep going down or retreat up. They used an emergency satellite beacon to call for help.

The CHP helicopter arrived about 5:30 p.m. and lowered the SAR team member via a 100-foot cable to help one of the climbers, who was taken to the Lone Pine airport where the helicopter refueled. It returned and finished rescuing the climbing party about 7:30 p.m., dropping those three climbers at their camp near Lower Boyscout Lake.

Mt. Russell is one of California’s 14ers – 15 peaks above 14,000 feet. It’s in Tulare County about a mile west of Mt. Whitney.

The sheriff’s office warned that a snowy winter has created “difficult and potentially life-threatening alpine conditions,” likely well into the summer. Climbers attempting high-elevation routes should be properly prepared and experienced, the sheriff’s office said.