Splitboarder rescued near Tahoe after friend abandons him in Sierra backcountry
A splitboarder stranded in the snowy backcountry of Northern California’s Sierra Nevada near South Lake Tahoe was rescued late Sunday after being abandoned by his friend on the trail.
“The friend didn’t want to wait and left the subject alone, several miles from any trailhead, with no light and little understanding of how to navigate the terrain,” El Dorado County’s Tahoe Search and Rescue team said.
The Dec. 29 ordeal began as darkness fell on Saxon Creek Trail, about seven miles south of South Lake Tahoe. The two snowboarders had made their way down Highway 89 to the Saxon Creek junction with Warr Trail and were riding downhill. But, as rescuers described, one of the borders left their splitboard buddy behind as daylight faded. A splitboard, often used in backcountry snowboarding, is a snowboard that splits into skis for uphill travel.
The abandoned boarder called emergency dispatchers around 5 p.m. Sunday.
By 7:30 p.m., a two-person ski patrol set out from Christmas Valley, heading up Warr Trail as an El Dorado County sheriff’s helicopter spotted the boarder from above. The skiers reached the stranded snowboarder about 10 p.m. with “hot chocolate, water, a headlamp and warm layers” — and a guided trip back to Christmas Valley. The boarder made it back to their hotel after midnight.
Tahoe Search and Rescue described the snowboarder as “a capable rider” but stressed that the outcome could have been far worse.
“Heading out for a backcountry ride without proper navigation and survival gear can go well ... until it doesn’t. This party was not prepared for anything but an ideal scenario,” the search group said in its Facebook post. “Our subject was lucky to have cell phone coverage and just enough battery to use it to call for help. Even very skilled riders can get lost, stuck, or injured. Stay with your friends and have a plan for when things go wrong.”
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