Hiker slips on ice and falls 200 feet on California peak on Christmas Eve, rescuers say

A 40-year-old Colorado woman slipped on ice and fell 200 feet while descending Cucamonga Peak on a Christmas Eve hike, California sheriff’s officials reported.

She left her campsite at 5 a.m. Dec. 24 to scale the peak in the San Gabriel Mountains and fell on her way back down, coming to rest against a fallen tree, a San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department news release said.

A nearby hiker found her and activated his emergency beacon, the release said. A sheriff’s helicopter found the injured woman and called for a rescue helicopter.

High winds buffeted the rescue helicopter, complicating efforts to lower a rescuer to her, but they were eventually able to lower one a short distance away.

The rescuer, equipped with crampons and an ice ax, hiked to the woman and was able to assist her to an open area where the helicopter could hoist her up, the release said.

She was taken to a hospital to have her injuries treated.

The San Gabriel Mountains are in Southern California northeast of Los Angeles and north of San Bernardino.

This story was originally published December 27, 2022 at 2:54 PM with the headline "Hiker slips on ice and falls 200 feet on California peak on Christmas Eve, rescuers say."