California Highway Patrol Helicopter team rescues climber from 700-foot cliff

9/14/26

The video the California Highway Patrol released this week shows a helicopter hovering tight against a granite wall while a rescuer dangles on a cable beside an injured climber. That was Friday afternoon on Power Dome, the 700-foot face above Courtright Reservoir in the Sierra National Forest northeast of Shaver Lake.

The climber fell from the steep rock face around 12:45 p.m. on Sept. 11 and needed urgent extraction and medical care. CHP Central Division asked the Coastal Division Air Operations unit for help. Helicopter 70 launched from Paso Robles with a two-person crew, flew into Fresno County to pick up a Fresno County Sheriff’s Office helicopter rescue technician, and continued up to the dome.

Ground crews from Cal Fire, the Shaver Lake Volunteer Fire Department and the Forest Service staged below. The Shaver Lake Fire Department noted the crew chose a hoist straight off the wall rather than a 500-foot rope rappel, which would have taken far longer and put more people on the rock. The technician was lowered to the climber, secured him, and both were winched into the aircraft before the helicopter dropped him at a waiting ambulance.

Power Dome sits near 8,000 feet in the Courtright Reservoir area, a granite playground about 60 miles northeast of Fresno that draws climbers for multi-pitch routes with far smaller crowds than Yosemite. It is also remote, with spotty cell coverage and a long approach, which is why a helicopter was the fastest way down. On a wall that size, self-rescue is rarely an option.

Ctrl+click on the link below to watch video

https://h5.vdo.ai/media_file/v-pasoroblesdailynews/source/uploads/videos/17715269647369975b34e956c