A father-son trek to the summit of Mount Whitney, the tallest peak in the continental US, turned into a nightmare that Ryan Wach will never forget: his 14-year-old son Zane, delirious and incoherent, stepping off a 120-foot cliff as Ryan desperately tried to intervene.
Zane, a healthy Santa Clarita teen with no prior mental health issues, began acting oddly during their descent, pausing to stare blankly into the distance.
“He said he wasn’t sure if he was dreaming,” Ryan recalled. “He insisted we’d already finished the hike, that nothing was real.”
Zane’s condition wasn’t mere fatigue. After conquering the 14,505-foot peak, he succumbed to severe altitude sickness, worsened by dehydration, exhaustion, and lack of sleep.
At Trail Camp, six miles from the base, Ryan hoped a brief rest would help. “I thought he was improving,” he said. “But then he got worse, shuffling his feet and talking nonsense.”
Zane’s hallucinations intensified. He pointed at snow patches, calling them “snowmen,” and saw cartoon characters in distant lakes.
Then, calmly, he mentioned heading to the car. “The car was thousands of feet below,” Ryan said. “His calm tone was chilling.”
In a horrifying instant, Zane walked toward the cliff’s edge. Ryan, wiping his eyes, looked up to see his son moving away, unresponsive to his shouts. “I lunged, but he stepped off,” Ryan said. “I thought I’d lost him.”
Researchers suggest Zane experienced high-altitude psychosis, a condition triggered by low oxygen levels, causing delusions and confusion. Known as “third man syndrome,” it can make climbers sense nonexistent companions.
Santa Fe first responders stress preparation: cardiovascular training, potassium-rich foods like bananas and avocados, hydration, and gradual ascents above 10,000 feet to acclimate to thin air.
Ryan scrambled down the jagged 120-foot drop, certain Zane was gone. “I was screaming, thinking he was dead,” he said. Miraculously, Zane was alive—unconscious, battered, but breathing. “I turned him over, and he grunted. I couldn’t believe it,” Ryan said. An EMT named Ariana, who had passed them earlier, returned to coordinate a rescue. For six agonizing hours, Ryan stayed with Zane until a helicopter airlifted him to a hospital in Lone Pine, California, then to Sunrise Children’s Hospital in Las Vegas, where he remains in a medically induced coma.
Zane suffered a traumatic brain injury, a broken ankle, a fractured finger, and a shattered pelvis. “Doctors call it a miracle,” Ryan said. “It could’ve been worse.” A GoFundMe, launched June 14, has raised $25,000 of its $28,000 goal to cover travel, lodging, and meal costs for the family. “Share this campaign or keep Zane in your prayers,” the page urges. One donor wrote, “Get well, climber. Keep chasing those peaks!” Yet some online criticized Ryan, calling his oversight “irresponsible” for not preventing Zane’s altitude sickness.