Boy, 14, Fell Into 'Altered Mental State,' Walked Off Mountain

A teen is fighting for his life after he stepped off a ledge on California's highest peak during a hike with his dad. Ryan Wach tells SFGate he took son Zane, 14, on June 10 for what he says was the boy's first mountaineering expedition on Mount Whitney. Wach, himself a skilled climber, and Zane opted to take a shorter but more challenging trail to the summit than the more-traveled Mount Whitney Trail, and in just one pass. Wach says he wasn't worried about his son being able to handle it.

"He's in better shape than I am," Wach says, noting Zane had gone hiking often and is also a distance runner, experienced swimmer, and triathlon competitor. However, on the way back down the mountain, Zane started showing signs of altitude sickness, so Wach decided to take the easier trail back. That's when Zane began hallucinating, saying he was seeing snowmen and Kermit the Frog, his dad says. After hitting one of the camps along the trail, about 6 miles from the trailhead, Zane said he felt "considerably better," but an hour or so later, Zane fell into an "altered mental state"—leading to what happened next in front of his horrified dad.

"I heard steps to my right, and he was walking off the ledge," Wach says, per KSNV. "He had believed that we had finished the hike multiple times already in his mind." Wach says he ran down to where Zane had fallen, about 120 feet below, while a nearby hiker helped him arrange for help. It took six hours for assistance to arrive. Zane was airlifted to a nearby hospital, then transferred to Sunrise Children's Hospital in Vegas, where he was found to have a fractured skull, with brain swelling and bleeding. He remains in a medically induced coma, per a fundraising page in his name.

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Zane's other injuries were relatively minor, including a broken ankle and finger and part of his pelvis. Wach notes he's not 100% sure what caused Zane's disorientation—he cites possible exhaustion and dehydration, in addition to altitude sickness—but Dr. Puja Vithalani of Kaiser Permanente tells KSNV that altitude sickness can strike even experienced hikers at anywhere above 8,000 feet; Wach and Zane were at 10,000 feet when he fell. "He's not done being awesome," Wach writes on the fundraiser. "He'll show everyone as he pulls through this with everyone's help."