Lightning struck a couple hiking near the Arctic Valley ski area Tuesday evening, prompting an extensive backcountry rescue, according to the Anchorage Fire Department.

The 25-year-old man was able to walk down on his own, accompanied by two firefighters. The woman, 23, was more seriously injured. She was unable to walk down, prompting firefighters to launch a nearly three-hour operation that involved a six-man team carrying her down to the ski area parking lot.

"His shoes were all blown out. He's got singed hair on his legs," police Sgt. Mike Kerle said. "He said he woke up and his girlfriend was 15 feet away."

The report initially came across as a pair of hikers who had fallen from a ridge. But that was apparently because they themselves didn't know they had been zapped.

Citing "damage caused by heat and fire," battalion chief Bridget Bushue said lightning had apparently caught the couple unaware.

"It was a lighting strike," Bushue said. "I don't know if the lightning struck them directly or indirectly."

Officials didn't name either person.

It all began with a hike to go storm watching, according to firefighters. Dark, black clouds were looming close over the peaks of the Chugach Mountains in the afternoon, and the couple hiked up to the ridge of a saddle near Rendezvous Peak, overlooking South Fork Eagle River, to watch the weather unfold.

At about 6:30 p.m., lightning struck, knocking them down and temporarily unconscious.

The couple was able to call for help themselves. Firefighters sent a helicopter to the scene, but it was not able to carry passengers, fire department spokeswoman Jen Collins said. The craft instead hovered, guiding a ground crew as they ascended the slopes to the saddle, the farthest visible to the east from the ski area lot.

The going was tough, said fire department senior Capt. Robert St. Clair, who was among those carrying the woman down from the mountain. Rescuers requested a helicopter to pick up the victims, but Alaska State Troopers told firefighters the estimated time of arrival was about three hours because of gusting wind, he said.

Firefighters didn't want to wait that long. Instead, crews, with the help of an ATV hauling gear, crossed a creek twice and traversed rolling, sloped hills pockmarked with holes to get to the victims fast, he said. It took about 35 minutes to reach them.

"When we got there, they were hypothermic, shivering badly," St. Clair said. "We had them cuddle together."

The crew also gave them blankets and tried to ease the pain, he said.

The man headed down on his own and arrived in the lot first. As he approached the trail head, a streak of blood was visible across his brow and his shoes appeared melted. He said he was having trouble hearing. He wouldn't give his name, but said he had been standing on the ridge one minute and woke up on the ground with a cut on his head the next.

"I don't know what happened," he said.

The terrain was too rough for the ATV to haul the woman, so the crew had to do it by hand, Bushue said. Altogether, the rescue took about two hours and 45 minutes.

As six sweating firefighters reached the gravel drive of the parking lot about 9:30 p.m., an ambulance pulled up to load the woman, who was cocooned in a florescent orange wrap and in a litter basket. She didn't, or couldn't, move at all.

St. Clair said she was conscious and in stable condition. She and the man were being taken to Providence Alaska Medical Center.

Find James Halpin online at adn.com/contact/jhalpin or call him at 257-4589.

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