FRESNO, Calif. – The survival story of a missing camper who spent nearly three weeks lost in the snow-covered Sierra Nevada mountains has stunned even the most experienced rescuers.

Story of survival

What we know:

The tale of Tiffany Slaton, which includes battling blizzards, injury, hunger, and isolation, is one reminiscent of the competition game shows Survivor or Alone.

Though the 27-year-old’s story isn’t TV.
 
As Fresno County Sheriff John Zanoni said, it’s an “incredible story of perseverance, determination and survival.”
 
Slaton, of Jeffersonville, Georgia, had been on a solo camping trip through the Sierra National Forest, part of a “bucket list” adventure before setting off to medical school.

Her journey began April 14 in the Shaver Lake and Huntington Lake areas. She traveled by electric bike with basic gear, including two sleeping bags and a tent.

She made it as far as Kaiser Pass, at an elevation of about 9,000 feet, and also passed through the Edison Lake and Golden Lake areas.

At one point, Slaton fell off the side of a mountain. She later told reporters at a news conference on Friday she was unconscious for nearly two hours. She said she had to splint one leg and pop the other back into place herself.

“Thinking of going over Kaiser Pass, and there is somewhere between 10 and 12 feet of snow. The road hadn’t even been plowed yet at the time that she went over,” Zanoni said.

Slaton ultimately had to abandon her electric bike at the trailhead for Hopkins Lake.

An avalanche blocked the road, and though she tried calling 911 repeatedly, the calls didn’t go through. Her GPS suggested the nearest Starbucks was 18 miles away — closer than the nearest trail entrance.

That’s when the most intense phase of her survival began.

Brutal conditions

Dig deeper:

She endured dehydration, hunger, extreme sun exposure that damaged her eyes, and brutal snowstorms — all while suffering from Ballerina Syndrome, a rare condition that prevents her from keeping her heels on the ground.

She ran out of most of her food within five days.

Her family last heard from her on April 20 and reported her missing on April 29. Search crews began a massive effort, covering 600 square miles between May 6 and 10.

How she survived 

What they’re saying:

“I managed to survive off of these leeks and boiling the snowmelt for a very long period of time,” Slaton said.

A traveling dialysis technician, archery coach, and permaculturist, Slaton attributes her survival to both her physical conditioning and life skills she learned growing up on her family’s small farm in Georgia.

She was finally found on May 15 by Christopher Gutierrez and his employees at the Vermilion Valley Resort near Mono Hot Springs. The resort had been snowed in, but once roads were cleared that day, Gutierrez visited the property to begin summer preparations.

During the check, they noticed a door open at one of the rentals, known as the Boat House.

“I see some shoes down there, and I’m like, okay, well, it’s just a hiker who decided to hold up in the blizzard that we had that previous night and so as soon as we start making our way there, here comes Tiffany pops out deer in the headlights,” Gutierrez shared in a news conference on Wednesday.

He recounted the powerful moment she saw him and his workers. 
 
“Didn’t say a word, just ran up and all she wanted was a hug,” the resort owner shared, “And it was a pretty surreal moment.”

Slaton told reporters that if Gutierrez hadn’t found her when he did, she would have been dead after enduring 13 grueling snowstorms.

“I would not be here,” she said. “It was going to be the last one if he hadn’t have come that day. They would have found my body there.”

Gutierrez drove Slaton to a staging area, where deputies met her.

Despite surviving an avalanche, two landslides, and more than a dozen heavy snowstorms, Slaton’s injuries were limited to small cuts, burns, and eye damage from sun exposure.

“Nothing that I don’t think time will be able to heal,” she said.

At the back of her mind throughout the ordeal was one goal: to get back to her family in time for her birthday. She was found on May 14 — and the next day, her actual birthday, she was reunited with her family in California.

That’s some proper prior planning.

A lost hiker missing for three weeks in the California mountains miraculously survived when she stumbled upon an unlocked cabin that had been left open by its owner for this exact situation — and was rescued just in time to celebrate her 28th birthday.

Georgia woman Tiffany Slaton found shelter at a closed resort in the eastern Sierra Nevada range after she was initially reported missing on April 29, authorities said.

A massive search for Slaton involved scouring more than 600 square miles at the Sierra National Forest, but it was Vermilion Valley resort owner Christopher Gutierrez who found her first this week.

He arrived at the venue Wednesday to prepare to reopen when he saw a front door slightly open and a pair of shoes.

“She pops out, didn’t say a word, just ran up and all she wanted was a hug,” Gutierrez said during a Wednesday evening news conference.

“It was a pretty surreal moment, and that’s when I realized who this was.”

He typically leaves the cabin doors open while the resort is closed during the off-season in case a wayward hiker needs a place to crash amid harsh weather conditions like blizzards.

“It’s mainly for people, just as this scenario played out, if they need to hole up in there one of shelter then it’s available,” Gutierrez said.

Slaton, who hails from Jeffersonville in the Peach State, told Gutierrez she survived for weeks solely munching on leeks before the resort owner fed her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

“It was a blizzard, and she pushed through that blizzard, and the first thing she saw was a cabin,” said Gutierrez. “And she held up in the cabin overnight … this girl was saved for the reason.”

The survivor was brought to a hospital and is in good condition besides dehydration, the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office said.

Her parents reported her missing late last month, and witnesses told the sheriff’s office she was last seen on April 24.

Two days before she was found, the sheriff’s office announced it was scaling back the search.

Bobby and Fredrina Slaton, her mom and dad, were losing hope when they received a phone call from none other than Tiffany as she was being taken down the mountain.

“She said, ‘Dad, I’m alive, and I’m sorry, but I’m alive and I wanted to call you and let you know I’m alive,’” an emotional Bobby Slaton said at the press conference.

As Bobby cried inside a store, Fredrina needed someone to hug.

“I grabbed somebody and said, ‘Can I hug you?’” she said. “And I did. I was crying and hugging.”

More information about Slaton’s incredible story of survival was not immediately known, including when or where her adventure began and how she ended up at Vermilion Valley Resort.

The sheriff’s office plans to eventually interview her for more details.

“Three weeks, it’s unheard of,” sheriff’s office spokesperson Tony Botti said. “It speaks to the tenacity that Tiffany has, that she’s a fighter.”

Slaton was rescued the day before her 28th birthday, People reported.

With Post wires