Doctors have placed a California teen in a medically induced coma following a freak accident while mountain climbing. Ryan Wach took his 14-year-old son, Zane Wach, to climb Mount Whitney on June 10, 2025. Everything seemed fine until Zane began to feel the effects of altitude sickness. The teen started hallucinating and fell 120 feet from a cliff. The teenager is now fighting for his life, and his father is trying to understand what happened.
Wach told SFGate his son is an accomplished athlete, and he didn’t expect him to have any issues on their climb. “He’s in better shape than I am,” Wach said. “The idea was that this would be kind of like his introduction to mountaineering.”
But as time went on, Zane began to experience hallucinations. The teenager knew he was hallucinating and told his father he saw “snowmen and Kermit the Frog.”
Wach said his son started feeling better when they got to Mount Whitney’s Trail Camp, approximately six miles from the trailhead at Whitney Portal. But once they got there, Zane fell ill again.
“He was in an altered mental state, and I don’t know what caused it. We still don’t know,” Wach told SF Gate. “My best guess is a combination of exhaustion, sleep deprivation, probably some dehydration, and lasting effects from the altitude sickness. But he essentially started to doubt reality.”
Per SFGate, a separate group of hikers contacted search and rescue for help because of Zane’s situation. The teen apparently kept getting close to the edge of a cliff, frightening his father and those around them. Zane told his father at one point he was going to the car and another time he said he was getting dinner, both times getting close to the edge of the cliff.
“I was kind of losing my mind, in a way, because I was so scared and frustrated,” Wach said. “I had to wipe away tears. I was holding my hands to my eyes, and he walked off again. This time, I didn’t hear it until he was about at the edge, and when I went to reach for him, he was 10 feet away from me. I couldn’t get him, and he walked off the edge.”
His father sped down to him and waited six hours for help. A helicopter first took Zane to Southern Inyo Hospital in Lone Pine, but he was later transferred to the nearest pediatric trauma center at Sunrise Children’s Hospital in Las Vegas.
Zane’s fall resulted in head trauma and a broken ankle, finger, and pelvis. His father said his injuries are minor in comparison to what they could have been.
Loved ones have created a GoFundMe account for Zane’s family. They’ve raised more than $34,000 thus far.
“It’s going to be a survival story in the end, but right now we’re still in the middle of it,” Wach told SFGate in hopes his son makes a full recovery.
Donors sent their love and prayers to the family.
“Prayers for Zane’s miraculous healing and strength for his family and friends. May God surround you with His light,” someone wrote on GoFundMe.
“From one climber to another, get well soon and don’t give up on the dream of the world’s high majestic places,” another person shared. “We climb because it’s there!”
