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US News

Hiker rescued from 50-foot rock face says muscles nearly gave out before help arrived

By
Snejana Farberov
Published April 3, 2024, 9:19 a.m. ET

The hiker seen in a dramatic rescue video being pulled to safety from a California cliffside by a rescuer dangling from a helicopter says his muscles were on the verge giving out after clinging to a rock face for an hour in the dark when help arrived.

Cody Cretini, 22, said he was not in a good shape when a Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office’s rescue helicopter spotted him before 8 pm Sunday stranded barefoot some 50 feet up a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. 

“My muscles were tired. I was cramping, and I knew if I fell in that, it wasn’t going to be good,” he recounted to ABC’s “Good Morning America” in a segment that aired Wednesday.

Cody Cretini
Hiker Cody Cretini, 22, spoke out for the first time since his dramatic cliffside rescue. Good Morning America
A screenshot from a thermal imaging camera shows a man clinging to a cliffside in California's Golden Gate National Recreation Area on Sunday
A screenshot from a thermal imaging camera shows Cody Cretini clinging to a cliffside in California’s Golden Gate National Recreation Area on Sunday. Sonoma Sheriff's Office
Screenshot from the cliff rescue
The man fell around 60 feet from a trail near the Golden Gate Bridge. Sonoma Sheriff's Office

Cretini, from Louisiana, was enjoying an Easter Sunday beach walk with his girlfriend near San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, when he made the fateful decision to take a shortcut up a hill.

“I decided to climb the cliff, be brave, be adventurous,” Cretini told ABC News. “So I started climbing, and about 40 or 50 up I get to a spot where all the rocks start crumbling.”

Cretini’s girlfriend went to call for help, leading to the arrival of the “Henry-1” helicopter rescue team, which used a thermal imaging camera to locate the hiker.

Deputy Larry Matelli, a tactical flight officer with the sheriff’s office, was flown to the cliffside where Cretini was holding on for dear life.

“My fear is he’s gonna let go, and I realize as soon as he did, he’s gonna start sliding,” Matelli told the outlet.

In the now-viral video of the rescue, Matelli could be heard urging Cretini: “Hey, don’t let go, man! Don’t let go, OK?”

Thermal imagining camera shows the man on the side of the snowy cliff
The man was located using a thermal imaging camera. Sonoma Sheriff's Office
Helicopter crewmen who rescued hiker speaking on "Good Morning America"
Deputy Larry Matelli, right, said he was worried the stranded hiker might slide down the cliffside. Good Morning America

He then placed a harness around the hiker, reassuring him: “I got you, brother.”

Cretini said that just before he was saved, he was holding onto the cliffside with just one hand, and he was afraid that the wind stirred up by the chopper’s blades might knock him off his precarious perch.

Cretini was airlifted to the top of the cliff, where he was checked out by medics and treated for some scrapes and bruises.

A grateful Cretini thanked the helicopter crew for saving his life, saying, “don’t know where I’d be without them.”