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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Lost snowshoer rescued in Cascades

Associated Press The Spokesman-Review

NORTH BEND, Wash. – A 31-year-old Seattle woman was found safe Monday near Snoqualmie Pass east of Seattle, two days after she became lost while snowshoeing with friends.

When rescuers in Guardian One, a King County sheriff’s office helicopter, spotted her, she was about a six-hour hike from the nearest rescuers on the ground, sheriff’s Sgt. John Urquhart said.

She waved, but there was no place to land the helicopter in the mountainous terrain. Rescuers called for a Navy helicopter with a winch to be sent from Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, Urquhart said.

In the meantime, sheriff’s Sgt. Sydney Jackson leapt out of Guardian One from 8 or 10 feet above the ground to care for the woman, identified as Cindy Wysocki, a lawyer. She arrived at Harborview Medical Center just before 2:30 p.m. She was in satisfactory condition, conscious and talking, but was spending the night at the hospital, hospital spokeswoman Susan Gregg-Hanson said.

With a storm bearing down on the region, the timing of the rescue was crucial.

“Today was do or die, literally,” Urquhart said.

Wysocki got lost while snowshoeing with two male friends Saturday near Hemlock Pass, about six miles beyond the Denny Creek trailhead at 4,600 feet. The men looked for her into Saturday night before calling the King County sheriff’s office at 2 a.m. Sunday.