2 teenage hikers managed to survive a massive snowstorm in California by huddling together for warmth for 3 nights
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- Two teenage boys in California were stranded when a snowstorm hit during their hiking trip.
- Riley Ramirez and Cole White, both 17, were seasoned hikers, the Associated Press reported.
- They huddled together for warmth after their tent broke and Ramirez lost his jacket.
A pair of teenage hikers managed to survive a massive snowstorm in southern California by huddling together for warmth.
Riley Ramirez and Cole White, both 17, were dropped off near the Pacific Crest Trail for a hiking trip, per a March 3 news release from the Morongo Basin Sheriff's Department.
Ramirez and White are both seasoned hikers who went into their 10-day hike prepared with food, a tent, and snowshoes, the Associated Press reported.
"They knew there was weather. But I don't think they expected the amount," John Scalise, a sergeant at the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, told the AP.
The boys' parents last managed to contact them on February 28, five days before they were rescued. Ramirez's father, Cesar Ramirez, was also tracking the boys through a phone app. He called the San Bernardino Country Sheriff's Department when he lost track of them on the app, per the AP.
The police managed to find the boys on March 3 by going to their last known location, the AP reported. This was on the Pacific Crest Trail, near San Gorgonio Mountain, the highest peak in California south of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, said the Morongo Basin Sheriff's Department.
A rescue team found the boys slightly hypothermic and huddled together for warmth, Scalise told the AP. Scalise told the AP the boys had spent three nights stranded on the mountain. Their tent was damaged, and Ramirez had lost his jacket.
The two were flown by helicopter over to the Morongo Basin sheriff's station, where they were given food, water, and medical attention, per the police department's news release.
"During the five days they were hiking, they encountered four to five feet of snow drifts, limiting visibility and making it difficult to stay on the trail," read the news release from the sheriff's department.
"Riley and Cole expressed how severe the weather conditions were and believed they would not have survived without assistance from the Sheriff's Department," it added.
Cesar Ramirez told the AP the boys said they were "convinced" they were going to die in the snowstorm.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on March 1 for 13 counties in California after a huge snowstorm hit southern California on February 25.
The accumulated snowfall blocked roads, trapped people in their homes, and caused power outages, per CBS News. Around 85,000 homes and businesses across Los Angeles lost power on Saturday, Reuters reported.
Representatives for the Morongo Basin Sheriff's Department and the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.