SALT LAKE CITY – Four stranded hikers, including a woman with a broken back, were plucked off a Utah mountain by helicopter Sunday morning after spending the night with a rescue team.
Four women and three men, all members of a Korean climbing club in Salt Lake City, had set off early Saturday for a day snowshoe hike on 9,026-foot Mount Olympus.
They were making their way down the mountain when one woman lost traction and fell 60 to 90 feet, knocking others down with her and stranding the group on a steep, icy slope, sheriff's Lt. Jon Fassett said. They dug out a snow ledge for safety, he said.
Three of the hikers were guided off the mountain by foot overnight, but injuries kept at least three of the other four from walking, Fassett said.
Rescuers with extra gear stayed with the four stranded hikers until they could be taken off the mountain by helicopter in the morning.
Relatives had called authorities after the group failed to return as planned Saturday afternoon.
Mount Olympus is a popular but strenuous climb, rising 4,000 feet from a trailhead on Salt Lake City's east side via long switchbacks, rocky slopes and rocky outcrops.