Petty Officer Charly Hengen says Michael Randall of Anchorage saw one bear, not two as originally reported by the Coast Guard after the early Tuesday morning rescue.
The Coast Guard also initially reported that Randall jumped from a cliff to the water after he saw the bear. Hengen says Randall actually slid down the cliff, stopping after about 40 feet. From there he used his cell phone to call for help.
While a Coast Guard helicopter crew was en route from Kodiak, Randall made his way to a beach and started a small fire.
Hengen says Randall is a little bruised and sore, but otherwise fine.
An earlier version of this story:
By JAMES HALPIN
jhalpin@adn.com
A hiker who jumped into Passage Canal early Tuesday morning, reportedly to escape a pair of charging bears, was picked up by a helicopter after he climbed back up a slope and called for help, according to the Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard said Michael Randall was picked up from the Passage Canal area about 2:50 a.m. after a several-hour ordeal on the mountain. He was cold and wet, but uninjured.
Randall was hiking in an area south of Billings Glacier, about four miles from Whittier on the opposite side of the canal from the community when he came across two bears, which he said charged him, according to the Coast Guard.
It wasn't clear Tuesday what kind of bears they were. Randall could not be reached for comment.
The Coast Guard said Randall plunged into the water from a ledge roughly 15 feet high and, when the bears left, climbed out and made his way some 200 feet up a steep slope.
"He put himself in a position at that time that he could no longer climb up to get any further back up on the trail, " said Whittier police chief Dave Schofield. "In essence, he kind of treed himself."
Randall was prepared for his outing with a cell phone that evidently worked after the dunking, despite being soaked, and was within range. He managed to call Whittier police, who contacted Alaska State Troopers and the Coast Guard, Schofield said.
The Coast Guard, which was called about midnight, launched an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Cordova to the scene. While the helicopter was en route, Randall was able to descend to a trail and start a small fire, the Coast Guard said. He also had a flare that he launched when the chopper was within two miles, said pilot Lt. David Feeney.
Weather conditions were fairly rough. The Coast Guard reported winds out of the northeast at 23 mph, gusting to 34 mph, with the temperature at 38 degrees. The crew had to be wary of trees, the mountain and howling winds during the pickup.
"It was right up against the cliff and it was driving rain," Feeney said. "We were getting bounced around pretty good."
Randall was on a mountain side that sloped about 30 degrees, but about 40 feet up the mountain jutted up in a sheer vertical face for about 200 feet, he said. The helicopter crew prepared to hoist him from more than twice as high as they would from a small boat because of the whipping wind and the nearby cliff, he said.
The crew lowered a rescue swimmer, Petty Officer Ryan Gann, who found a soaked but uninjured Randall.
"When I was down there, there was a bunch of alder bushes that we had to clear to get us out," said Gann, who was on his first rescue mission. Gann hooked Randall up to a harness and got him hoisted to the helicopter at about 2:50 a.m.
Randall was flown to Whittier, where he was treated and released at the clinic for hypothermia, troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters said.
The Coast Guard was urging outdoorsmen to prepare themselves for Alaska's wilderness.
"The Coast Guard encourages hikers to fully prepare themselves," Petty Officer Charly Hengen said. "Taking a bear-safety class can teach a person the proper way to respond to a bear encounter."
Find James Halpin online at adn.com/contact/jhalpin or call him at 257-4589.
Important warning about e-mails purporting to be from the adn.com staff.