Tiffany Slaton spoke about her frightening experience during a news conference with her parents and law enforcement. She shared details about being immobilized by a severe fall.
“After falling from a cliff, I was knocked out for about two hours and had to splint one leg and pop my other knee back into position,” Slaton explained.
“From there, I couldn’t actually get back onto the road, the main road was blocked because of the avalanche that I had been in.”
Slaton mentioned she attempted to call 911 multiple times without success. However, her GPS worked, leading her to the nearest Starbucks, a route she described as a “long, arduous journey.”
After about five days, she ran out of food. Slaton, who said she is a nutritionist, recalled that she staved off hunger with wild leeks and boiled snowmelt. She made tea out of manzanita and pine needles, she said.
“The [Sierra] has a large selection of leeks that is hard to find in other places,” Slaton said.
“I managed to survive off of these leeks and boiling the snowmelt for a very long period of time.”
Having originally set out for a camping trip, Slaton said she brought two sleeping bags and a tent. But she lost the tent and the sleeping bags at some point, leaving her with just a lighter and a knife.
“I’m pretty good at foraging, and nature is quite terrifying, so usually once you start finding things that are scary for you, you do your best to keep moving and get over it,” she said.
It looks like the type of place you’d whack on your travel bucket list
The owner of Vermilion Valley Resort found her in a cabin on Wednesday. The following day, she celebrated her 28th birthday.
“That was the 13th heavy snowstorm I had been in,” said Slaton, who also noted that she is an archery teacher and athlete.
“If he hadn’t come that day, they would’ve found my body there.”
