When his 17-year-old son and friend headed off for a 10-day trek in the Southern California mountains, Cesar Ramirez said he wasn’t too worried. The teens were avid hikers with ample food in their backpacks, a tent and snowshoes, plus extensive training and aspirations to join the military.
But when the snow began pummeling the mountains east of Los Angeles by the foot-load and Ramirez lost contact with them through a tracking app, he called the San Bernardino County sheriff’s department. They dispatched a helicopter to the boys’ last known location, followed their foot tracks and spotted and rescued them. By then, Ramirez’s son had lost his jacket to the wind, and their tent had broken, the father said.
