"Before you could even process the thought, 'Oh, that's rain,' thunder boomed,"
"At that altitude, the bolts don't just come down in single strikes; they can surround a hiker. Hair can suddenly stand on end, metal hiking poles can start to buzz, and a direct hit can be fatal."
""I have three little kids, and I just kept picturing their little faces," Eskew said days later, still shaken by the experience. She remembers telling herself over and over, "Keep running, you cannot be the idiot who dies up here today.""
"As a late-summer monsoon spread across California in recent weeks, it delivered hundreds of thousands of lightning strikes - record numbers in August and the first week of September. Those sparked hundreds of wildfires and, for many hikers, sheer terror."
Megan Eskew climbed Mt. Whitney after thorough preparation and an early start to avoid afternoon thunderstorms. She reached the 14,500-foot summit before sunrise and descended quickly when weather closed in. A sudden storm brought thunder, wind-driven rain that turned to hail, and pervasive lightning that can surround hikers at high altitude. Metal poles can buzz and hair can stand on end; a direct strike can be fatal. She raced toward trees thousands of feet below while fearing for her children. A late-summer monsoon produced hundreds of thousands of strikes across California and sparked hundreds of wildfires.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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