Intense, cliff hoist rescue of Pacific Crest Trail hiker in Whitewater, 4/13/25.

The aircrew from Rescue 9 conducted an intense hoist rescue of this PCT hiker in the Whitewater area (north of I-10). She stated she got off trail due to the complexity of that section as it branches off. For the debrief: we know there are many other SAR teams out there who do this kind of operation and regarding the decision to not use traditional straps and quick capture straps on this call…the rescue specialist made the call to “bear hug” the hiker due to her being in such a precarious spot, for almost an hour, and she had that large pack on. He was completely confident in his ability to hold on to her and as you can see, it worked out. We were relieved when the got to the too and chuckled a bit at their dual adrenaline dump for a moment!