Two teenage hikers who got stranded on a mountain in Oregon are now safe and sound, thanks to a message they wrote in the snow.
The US Coast Guard says one of its helicopters found the two men, Christian Farnsworth and Parker Jasmer, both 19, after they wrote a giant “SOS” in the snow near their campsite.
“These young men did a lot of things right to give themselves the best chance of being rescued,” said Lt Maggie Champin, an aircraft commander at the Coast Guard’s North Bend sector. “By writing ‘SOS’ in the snow, staying near their vehicle, and staying near logging roads, we were able to find them relatively quickly.”
Mr Farnsworth and Mr Jasmer went camping on Swastika Mountain (an unfortunate name that predates the Nazis) around Christmas. By New Year’s Eve they had still not returned, and their families reported them missing.
The Lane County Sheriff’s Office sent out search parties to find the teens, but heavy snow blocked the roads in the area. That’s when they called in the Coast Guard.
On Saturday – New Year’s Day – a Coast Guard helicopter spotted the two hikers and airlifted them to Eugene Airport, where sheriff’s deputies were waiting for them. The teens were reportedly unharmed.
“Found Safe!!” Oakridge Fire & EMS wrote in a jubilant Facebook post. “They said they were VERY cold but healthy!!”
Incredibly, during the same search, that helicopter also found two other hikers “in distress” on another part of the mountain. The Coast Guard reported that duo to Lane County, whose search parties were able to get to them.
In a statement, the Coast Guard praised the stranded teens’ resourcefulness, and offered some advice to other adventurers.
“We recommend hikers carry personal locator beacons while out in the back country,” Lt Champin said.
Mr Farnworth’s family told KEZI they had no idea he had gone hiking. They only figured out what happened, they said, after talking to Mr Jasmer’s family. Now that he’s home, they’re overjoyed that he’s alive.
“I was just in my kitchen and I broke down on the floor and I was like, ‘Okay, he’s going to be okay, we’ll be fine,’” Mr Farnworth’s sister, Aria Bucko, told the station.
