A father and his 12-year-old son were rescued after they spent over 13 hours stranded on a narrow ledge in the biting cold of Utah's Red Mountain Trail. They survived, thanks to an unexpected lifeline - a backpack filled with emergency supplies, left behind by a teen hiker a month earlier.
The ordeal began last Sunday when a woman reported her husband and son missing after they failed to reach their designated meeting point. Concerned for their safety, she contacted authorities, leading to a search operation, according to Sgt Jacob Paul of the Washington County Sheriff's Office.
Two search teams scoured the rough terrain, with a private medical transport helicopter assisting but failing to locate the pair. Searchers eventually found footprints that matched the father's boots and his son's tracks. After three hours of calling out, rescuers began hearing voices, but darkness and echoes made it difficult to locate them.
On one part of the hill, stranded on a ledge, the father and son braved freezing temperatures; their cellphones dead. That's when they discovered a backpack containing emergency blankets, water, snacks, a small tent, and other supplies. The backpack belonged to 15-year-old Levi Dittmann, who was rescued from the same area a month earlier.
"I can't say 100 per cent that it saved their lives because they may have survived, but they were on that ledge for at least 13 hours before we were able to get them off," Sgt Paul told CNN. "Had they not had that bag, they definitely would have had some pretty severe cold-related symptoms."
The father said they had taken the trail before and expected a routine hike but relying on a GPS app led them astray. "The application ended up sending us somewhere else on the other side of the mountains where we ended up getting stranded," he said. The app drained his phone battery, leaving them without navigation.
The father described their unexpected ordeal as a lesson. "For a 12-year-old to go through that situation and remain calm until the rescue came - he was pretty brave about it," he said. "Next time, even if it's just a small hike, let's bring our tent and the rest of the stuff we need."
The rescue itself was not without challenges. The closest Department of Public Safety (DPS) helicopter was out of service for maintenance. Another chopper had to be dispatched from a different city. By Monday morning, a thermal imaging camera finally spotted the father and son huddled under an emergency blanket.
A video from the DPS helicopter recorded the moment searchers found them. "Let's get down and take a closer look at that," a rescuer is heard saying. "If we can just come down low. Don't get in close or we're going to blow them off."
A rescuer was lowered on a long line to bring the boy up first, followed by his father. "The moment I saw the size of that line, the rope line, I was like, please don't snap," the father recalled with a laugh.
Levi Dittmann's mother, who had been unaware that his lost backpack would later save two lives, described it as divine intervention. "It's a total God story," she said. "Throw your backpack down. It's for later use."
Levi Dittman, who had packed emergency supplies for his training, was relieved that they had served a purpose. "I'm glad that it wasn't for nothing, that I could help someone," he said.
Experts warn that many hikers are unprepared for wilderness treks. Travis Heggie, a professor at Bowling Green State University and former public risk management specialist for the National Park Service, said it was important to be prepared. "Even if you are experienced, it's so easy to get turned around in wilderness areas like southern Utah," he said.
