A 911 transfer call from the Brookings Police Department was received by Curry County Sheriff’s Dispatch late Tuesday afternoon, August 30th, regarding a subject who called in stating that he was stuck on a cliff south of Lone Ranch Beach parking lot, just north of Brookings.
The caller, later identified by Sheriff’s Dispatch as 41 year old Anthony (Tony) Lohman of Brookings, stated he had walked about twenty minutes south on the beach and tried to climb up a cliff, was unable to climb any higher, and could not go back down.
Dispatch kept Lohman on the phone, assuring him that Search and Rescue would find and help him and in an attempt to locate Lohman prior to Search and Rescue getting there, Sheriff’s Dispatch sent deputies to the location and worked with Lohman by sending photos to help determine his exact location.
After finding Lohman, Search and Rescue immediately began to put a plan in place to get him off the side of the cliff. One Search and Rescue member deployed a drone and took video of the location and rescue. The Search and Rescue member was able to communicate with Lowman over the radio speaker on the drone.
Lowman was stuck about 200 feet from the top of the hog back ridge he was under and about 90 feet from the rocks below, and after fully assessing the situation, a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter crew was dispatched from North Bend. However, due to foggy weather conditions when they arrived, they could not assist in the rescue of Lohman.
Search and Rescue then stuck to their original rescue plan and was able to get above Lohman on the ridge he was under. Four Search and Rescue members risked their lives on the thin steep ridge to establish a tail hold by wrapping a 150’ section of rope around the top edge of the rock bluff. A single rappeler was lowered to Lohman who was then able to attach a harness to Lohman and the both of them descended to the beach below.
A total of eight Search and Rescue members were involved in the rescue which took approximately five hours, finishing after dark by the time they got back to the Lone Ranch parking lot.
