Darkness strands two hikers in chilly Utah canyon. Then rescuers arrived with lights

Two hikers were stranded in a Utah canyon after officials said they couldn’t find rappel stations in the dark.

Two people started climbing a route in Little Cottonwood Canyon around 4 p.m. on Friday, the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue said in a Facebook post.

Officials said the climbers finished the route late at night and “didn’t know the descent route or have adequate light to be able to find the rappel stations to get back off the route in the dark.”

Team members said they used high power lights to guide the hikers to the rappel stations in order to get off the route, the police said.

The two people were “safely” off the mountain around 2 a.m., according to officials.

Temperatures reached around 43 degrees around 1 a.m., according to the National Weather Service.

This story was originally published April 12, 2021 at 12:50 PM with the headline "Darkness strands two hikers in chilly Utah canyon. Then rescuers arrived with lights."