Featured Image Credit: Fresno County Sheriff's Office
Topics: California, Travel, US News, Weather
Liv Bridge
Topics: California, Travel, US News, Weather
A woman who went missing in the mountains for weeks has revealed just how she fought to stay alive.
Tiffany Slaton managed to survive a whopping 24 days alone, lost, and with minimal equipment trekking through the Sierra Nevada, California, mountains, after what was meant to be a three-day solo camping trip turned into a hefty expedition that almost claimed her life.
She faced adverse weather conditions, an avalanche, and a serious fall that knocked her unconscious and injured her leg, with officials saying it's a 'miracle' she managed to survive.
Tiffany had set off on a trip on April 20 to explore Shaver and Huntington lakes in Fresno County but was reported missing by her concerned parents on April 29 when they didn't hear from her for nine days.
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Emergency responders launched a full-scale search party for Tiffany between May 6 to May 10 across Sierra National Forest, but found no trace of her.
The Jeffersonville, Georgia native was eventually found the day before her 28th birthday, some 40 miles away at Vermillion Valley Resort.
When she was finally found by the resort's owner on Wednesday (May 14), officials say she had endured 13 snowstorms and climbed to altitudes of 11,000 feet.
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She also lost 10lbs during her ordeal, as well as her tent, sleeping bags, and bike, leaving her with just a lighter, a knife, and some snacks.
Now, the 28-year-old has revealed what lengths she went to in order to stay alive.
Not long into her journey, Tiffany said she fell off a cliff and was unable to make it to the main track due to a recent avalanche.
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She claimed she was unconscious for around two hours and had to splint one leg and 'pop the other knee back into place'.
All five of her desperate calls to 911 failed to go through, so she resorted to trekking towards the nearest Starbucks, some 18 miles away, after GPS managed to work.
“I ended up on this very long, arduous journey that I journaled to try and keep sane and eventually managed to get to civilization,” she said.
Tiffany, a traveling dialysis technician as well as an experienced archer with horticultural training, said her talents helped her to forage in the wildness and, crucially, keep calm.
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She wrote in a diary, gathered leeks to eat that she knew were native in the area, drank melted snow, and made a tea from manzanita and pine needles.
“The worst thing you can do in an emergency situation is panic,” she said.
On the last leg of her journey, Tiffany managed to navigate a 9,000-foot peak buried beneath 12 feet of snow which led her to a cabin and, finally, safety.
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At first sight, she said she thought she was 'hallucinating' and considered she had 'managed to make it to the North Pole'.
But once inside, she found the 'best sleeping bag I had ever seen' and was found just eight hours later by Christopher Gutierrez, who, as luck would have it, was able to get to the cabin after snowplows happened to clear the roads that day.
Tiffany said: “That was the 13th heavy snowstorm I had been in, and it was going to be the last one.
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“If he hadn’t come that day, they would’ve found my body there.”
Christopher also recalled the moment he found her, saying: "She pops out, didn’t say a word, just ran up, and all she wanted was a hug.
"It was a pretty surreal moment. And that’s when I knew. That’s when I realized who this was.”
“I really do have a new faith in humanity,” Tiffany added.
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Fresno County Sheriff John Zanoni also said in a press conference that her story is what 'they would make movies about'.
"I would have never anticipated her in my wildest dreams being able to get back as far as she did," he added. “It is truly an incredible story of perseverance, determination and survival."