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Students Survive Night Near Strawberry
September 1993
Two bay area college students got a graduate course in rugged terrain and sticking together on the weekend of September 18, 1993. The result was an overnight SAR mission near Strawberry.
It started when fifteen UC Berkely students arrived at Strawberry Saturday morning intending to climb Pyramid Peak via Rocky Canyon. According to reports, none of them had ever been there; they were apparently following handwritten directions written by someone who had climbed the peak once before.
During the all-day trip (which, ironically, was meant as a team-building exercise) the group spread out so far that some people eventually lost sight of each other. In typical "I thought she was with you" fashion, they discovered when they returned that although fifteen had gone up, only thirteen had come down. Rob (25) and Haviva (21) were missing.
By the time Deputy Paula Cotter reached the area it was dark, so she initially called for a limited number of hasty teams to contain the area until light.
From the start, it was apparent that Haviva was in greater danger than Rob. Haviva was reported to be lightly dressed, inexperienced, and to have knee problems. She was last heard saying that the group was moving too fast for her to keep up. Rob was wearing only Teva sandals, but was more warmly dressed, was an experienced hiker and had some military survival training. He was also carrying backpack presumably with extra clothes and food inside. Searchers hoped that Ron and Haviva had joined up and were staying together.
The teams hiking into the area faced long, steep climbs out of the American River Canyon. One team's assignment was to ascend 2600 feet up Rocky Canyon, in hopes of intercepting Rob and Haviva if they were coming out at night. Another team hiked and crawled up brush-choked Forni Creek in case Rob and Haviva came out that way; on one stretch, it took them 2 hours to travel 300 feet. A third team had it easier: they drove into Upper Forni then ascended the last 1000 feet to just below Rob's PLS on the southwest slopes of Pyramid.
All the teams bivouacked overnight in 20-30 degree temperatures. Steve Kennedy managed to get 2 hours of cold sleep with his legs braced to keep from sliding downhill. Paul Duer slept for an hour on a foam pad, but woke up shivering because the wind came right through his fleece jacket. Doug Walker actually used his head and his survival training, and built a mattress out of pine needles and other vegetation, alongside a fallen log to keep from rolling downhill. He slept quite comfortably, if only for an hour.
By the dawn's early light, all the teams were up and searching again, and more teams were being added. CHP helicopter H20 had arrived and was making passes over the area.
Nevertheless there were very few clues. One team found the tracks of two people, but later abandoned them because they didn't behave like lost people would. Other teams found tracks, but they were inconclusive because no one was sure what Rob and Haviva's tracks looked like.
Then, about 11:00 the whole search came to a sudden halt when Rob and Haviva showed up at Strawberry Lodge! They were tired, hungry and thirsty, but otherwise in good shape.
During debriefing they said that they had both become lost the previous day, but Rob had heard Haviva calling for help and had joined her. The two had hiked incredibly far looking for the way back, but with no luck. Rob had some matches, and that night they camped beside a fire. In the morning he built three signal fires, but none of the search teams saw the fires or the smoke. Later they resumed looking for Rocky Canyon. When they were unable to find it (we think they were too far too the west), they had come straight down the bluffs overlooking Highway 50, halfway between Rocky Canyon and Forni Creek.
When the search was called off, most of the teams were 2-3 hours from Strawberry. Missi Escobar's team had travelled all the way up Rocky Canyon to within a few hundred yards of the top of Pyramid Peak. They had to turn around and travel all the way down again. (This once again proves the search theory principle that says, "Searches are most likely to end when teams are furthest from transportation.")
All the search teams did a terrific job despite freezing cold, lack of sleep and strenuous climbs. Steve Kennedy insisted that his partners from Tahoe, Valorie Lambert and Dave Beck, were "just great." Missi Escobar said that Steve Lambert wasn't winded at all by the steep climb, but was polite enough to breathe hard when she was looking. On Paul Duer's team, Guy Whitcomb and Tim Moore (I think that's his last name) made a very smooth working team and were great companions - uncomplaining and in good spirits the whole time. (Incidentally, Guy must have a sixth sense of his whereabouts in the dark.)
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