Teen hiker's haunting final five words before walking off 120ft cliff

A teenager walked off a 120ft cliff after seeing “snowmen and Kermit the frog” while hallucinating due toaltitude sickness. Ryan Wach has told how he and his 14-year-old son Zane werehikingMount Whitney in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, in California, when the youngster became unwell. 

He was just out of reach of his horrified dad when he fell and is now in a medically induced coma having suffered severe head trauma as well as breaking his pelvis, ankle and finger. He had begun talking about seeing snowmen and Kermit the frog along with other nonsensical comments as he suffered hallucinations before walking off the 120ft cliff.

“He told me he couldn’t tell if he was dreaming or not,” said Ryan. “And then he said he was going to the car. But the car was thousands of feet below us.” Mr Wach said his son had plenty of hiking experience and was active in sports including running, swimming and triathlon.

READ MORE: Cabin crew suspended as passenger makes shock discovery after phone vanishes

READ MORE: ‘I watched innocent man die in Death Row gas chamber – his chilling last words still haunt me’

But during the hike, Zane began to suffer altitude sickness symptoms and after doing the toughest part of the climb they were going on an easier trail back to the car when the incident happened.

“He knew he was hallucinating,” Mr Wach told SFGate. “He said he saw things like snowmen and Kermit the Frog.” He was keeping a close check on his son and thought he was improving but then an hour later Zane reportedly started to “doubt reality”.

He said: “My best guess is a combination of exhaustion, sleep deprivation, probably some dehydration, and lasting effects from the altitude sickness. But he essentially started to doubt reality.”

Zane also began to make nonsensical comments such as saying they had already finished the hike. A separate group of hikers witnessing the situation called search and rescue to help them.

The teenager began to make erratic movements towards a ledge over a ravine and his dad managed to stop him in time. Another time he said that he was “going for dinner” as he kept trying to go towards the cliff edge.

Mr Wach told how the situation was becoming too much for him and his son got out of his reach before falling. “I had to wipe away tears. I was holding my hands to my eyes, and he walked off again,” said Mr Wach. “This time, I didn’t hear it until he was about at the edge, and when I went to reach for him, he was 10 feet away from me. I couldn’t get him, and he walked off the edge.”

A hiker with medical experience went to the aid of Zane before Inyo County Search & Rescue teams arrived. It took about six hours to get him off the mountain.

He was airlifted to Southern Inyo Hospital in Lone Pine, and later flown to the nearest paediatric trauma centre, Sunrise Children’s Hospital in Las Vegas.

A GoFundMe page has been set up by a friend to help support the family and so far it has raised more than $25,000 (£18,000). It states: "We started this campaign because so many of you have asked for a tangible way to help, and while their family is so fortunate to have good health care, there are many other expenses which they will incur on this long journey towards rehabilitation. Zane was airlifted to Children’s Hospital in Las Vegas, where he is surrounded by his family who traveled from California to be with him."