A hiker who slipped from his trail, falling around 100 feet down a cliff near Sausalito, California on Sunday evening was clinging for dear life when rescuers spotted him from a helicopter.
Dramatic footage captured by the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office shows the barefoot man barely hanging on to the face of the Bay Area cliff, motionless, as a rescuer shouts, "Hey, don't let go, man! Don't let go!"
And fortunately, he managed to hold on to bits of rock for half an hour — the time it took for rescuers to lift him to safety. (See video below, posted by Good Morning America.)
From ABC News:
Rescuers from Southern Marin Fire Department and Sonoma County Sheriff's Office lifted a man off a cliff Sunday night near the Battery Alexander trail in the Marin Headlands. They said he was 120 feet down the cliff and clinging to the side.
"The victim was about 40 feet off the water line," said Jason Golden, Battalion Chief with Southern Marin Fire. "The tide was coming up and he was stuck on the cliff." …
He says the man tried to climb back up, but couldn't get close to the top of the cliff. …
The Batter Alexander trail is right next to the ocean. The trail is near many steep cliffs. Golden says many people visit the trail this time of year because the weather is nice.
However, he says people sometimes fall off. He wants everyone to remember to stay away from the edges.
If you thought this hiker had it bad, see our post about the climber who slipped and got stuck on the side of a cliff in Utah for 12 hours before a helicopter crew was able to rescue him.
