{"id":473964,"date":"2026-09-24T07:20:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T07:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/473964\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T07:20:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T07:20:11","slug":"san-jose-climber-recounts-500-foot-plunge-down-mount-shasta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/473964\/","title":{"rendered":"San Jose climber recounts 500-foot plunge down Mount Shasta"},"content":{"rendered":"

A first-time climber\u2019s Mount Shasta adventure turned into a nightmare when he went careening nearly 500 feet down the mountain<\/a> \u2014 then had to crawl his way to safety with no phone, food, water or light.<\/p>\n

Zubayir Kazi, 24, had reached the summit <\/a>around 7:30 p.m. Sept. 10 after setting out early that morning. He had scouted part of the trail five days earlier, but the conditions he encountered during the climb were far harsher than expected.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt turned out to be much worse than I expected,\u201d Kazi told NBC Bay Area<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Rescuers bring an injured San Jose climber to a helicopter on Mount Shasta. The climber was airlifted to a hospital after crawling to safety following an injury during his descent. Shasta-Trinity National Forest<\/p>\n

Zubayir Kazi, 24, had reached the summit around 7:30 p.m. Sept. 10 after setting out early that morning. He had scouted part of the trail five days earlier, but the conditions he encountered during the climb were far harsher than expected. NBC Bay Area<\/p>\n

The real trouble came on the way down. Shortly after summiting, Kazi lost his equipment and was suddenly sent sliding down the mountain.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything I had with me just goes out of my hand and I find myself flying down the mountain,\u201d he told the outlet.<\/p>\n

The plunge left him badly injured and stripped of the supplies he needed to summon help. With no phone or light and nothing to eat or drink, Kazi decided his only chance was to keep moving downhill.<\/p>\n

He crawled off the mountain, driven by the fear that stopping could be fatal.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mentality became very one dimensional. I don\u2019t know what\u2019s the optimal thing to do, but I just know that I have to go lower because if I stay here and fall asleep, I\u2019m going to die,\u201d Kazi said.<\/p>\n

Back in San Jose, the silence was raising alarms. Kazi\u2019s mother contacted his friend Abdullah, worried after losing contact with him. As the hours dragged on, search-and-rescue crews began a missing-person search.<\/p>\n

Then came the lifesaving discovery, Kazi had managed to reach base camp. Another climber found him there and provided food and water until rescuers arrived.<\/p>\n

The extent of his injuries became apparent once officers reached him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the officers came in, it was the first time I really realized how badly I was injured. They said \u2018You have no skin behind your leg\u2019,\u201d Kazi said.<\/p>\n

Kazi suffered significant skin and nerve damage, along with serious internal complications. Doctors told him he could have died within hours. His recovery is expected to take weeks.<\/p>\n

The US\u00a0Forest Service says the route Kazi took is not recommended this time of year, especially for novice climbers, because conditions on Mount Shasta can change quickly and accidents can happen even when climbers think they are ready.<\/p>\n

Then came the lifesaving discovery, Kazi had managed to reach base camp. Another climber found him there and provided food and water until rescuers arrived. Shasta-Trinity National Forest<\/p>\n

Kazi says the ordeal has changed his view of mountain climbing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very important to fully and properly account for all of the requirements and safety considerations necessary to complete a hike like this and not miss a single one \u2014 and I\u2019d say to definitely not go alone.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A first-time climber\u2019s Mount Shasta adventure turned into a nightmare when he went careening nearly 500 feet down…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":473965,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[7,18116,4182,88,90,89,3586],"class_list":["post-473964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-california","tag-hiking","tag-metro","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/473965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}