Climber survives 2 days behind California waterfall before he’s rescued by helicopter

A rock climber survived two days perched behind a roaring California waterfall before he was rescued earlier this week, authorities said.

The climber, identified as Ryan Wardwell, 46, of Long Beach, California, was reported missing by family on Monday. He failed to return to his vehicle Sunday night following an attempt to rappel a waterfall in the Kern River’s Seven Teacups area, the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on Wednesday.

By the time first responders reached the area in Sequoia National Forest on Monday, it was getting dark, and they were only able to find a possible location for the climber using infrared technology, the sheriff’s office said.

On Tuesday morning, the office’s swift-water dive and search-and-rescue teams used a drone that located Wardwell in roughly the same location, in an apparent cavity behind the waterfall.

“Wardwell was found alive and responsive,” the sheriff’s office said. “He told Deputies he had come off his rappel lines and got trapped behind the waterfall because of the extreme hydraulics of the river.”

He was checked out at the scene and released to family on Tuesday following his rescue, the office said.

Deputy Craig Douglas made the rescue with the help of colleagues and a crew on board a California Highway Patrol helicopter, it said.

“They were able to lower me perfectly right next to him,” Douglas said in an interview on Friday. “I was able to get him in a recovery suit, hook him up, get him back into the helicopter.”

Wardwell likely suffered from hypothermia, the deputy said.

“He was pretty much just extremely cold,” Douglas said.

Temperatures were in the low 60s early Tuesday morning in Ponderosa, a community about 6 miles north of Seven Teacups. The Kern River’s North Fork can also run cold, as it’s generally fed by the Sierra Nevada’s winter snowpack.

Authorities said Wardwell had rappelled the feature previously, but they warned it can be a danger regardless.

Sheriff’s Capt. Kevin Kemmerling told NBC affiliate KSEE of Fresno that Wardwell traveled to the waterfall with a group of friends and fellow climbers who decided to retreat after determining rappelling would be too dangerous. He carried on alone, the captain told the station.

He noted that three people drowned at roughly the same location in August 2024.

The sheriff’s office said visitors to the river should “always be aware of their environment and capabilities, especially when navigating white water.”