FRESNO, Calif. — A 64-year-old California man who was injured while hiking in the Sierra Nevada is crediting a sheriff's deputy with making a split-second decision that likely saved his life.
Lawrence Bishop was clinging to a six-inch ledge of granite when Fresno County Deputy David Rippe scrambled 300 feet up a 70-degree slope of slippery granite without ropes to reach him.
Rippe said Wednesday he knew he had little time to help Bishop before he might fall.
The dramatic rescue was completed Saturday when a California Highway Patrol helicopter hoisted Bishop off 10,295-foot Dog Tooth Peak.
It capped a 24-hour search for the Santa Barbara County man who had become separated from his group nearly two days earlier.
Bishop told rescuers he thought he could navigate his way down the mountain, but he fell twice and spent two nights on the side of the peak in Dinky Lakes Wilderness.