Hiker tumbles 120 feet down snowy embankment on remote Washington trail, deputies say
A 36-year-old hiker plunged 120 feet down a snowy embankment in an area with “rough mountainous terrain,” authorities in Washington said.
Deputies responded to the fall around 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 21, near the Joe Lake area along the Pacific Crest Trail, the Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office said.
Christina Ford, of Camano Island, was seven hours into the trail from the Snoqualmie Pass with her husband and a friend, deputies said.
Then she fell down the snowy embankment and broke her leg and hit her head, deputies said.
Because of the remote location and the difficulty of the terrain, the sheriff’s office dispatched a helicopter to airlift the woman out.
By 8 p.m., rescuers had hoisted Ford into the aircraft and took her to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, authorities said.
The Pacific Crest Trail starts at the Mexico border and runs 2,650 miles through California, Oregon and Washington to the Canadian border.
This story was originally published July 22, 2022 at 7:24 PM with the headline "Hiker tumbles 120 feet down snowy embankment on remote Washington trail, deputies say."
