A 28-year-old woman from Georgia who went missing in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains has stunned authorities and her family with a survival story described as “movie-worthy,” reports the New York Times. Tiffany Slaton, a travelling dialysis technician and outdoors lover from Jeffersonville, Georgia, has been found safe after surviving 24 days alone in the snowy mountains of California. Slaton’s journey began as a short three-day solo camping trip near Shaver and Huntington Lakes, but later turned into a fight for survival that took her more than 40 miles off track, all the way to Vermilion Valley Resort.During her time in the wild, Tiffany faced 13 snowstorms, an avalanche, and a serious fall from a cliff. She lost her tent, her bike, and most of her supplies.The journey started on April 20 and soon became very tough. Slaton took her electric bike and camping gear, including two sleeping bags and a tent. Early on, she fell off a cliff and was unconscious for about two hours. When she woke up, she made a splint for one leg and “popped the other knee back into place,” NBC News reports.She had no signal and her phone’s map didn’t work. She tried calling 911 five times, but none went through. At one point, she even asked her phone where the nearest Starbucks was; it said 18 miles away.Her family reported her missing on April 29, and a large-scale search followed, covering roughly 600 square miles. Local authorities and volunteers collectively travelled over 4,000 miles on foot and by vehicle. A helicopter was also deployed, but no trace of her was found until this week.Slaton stayed alive by eating wild leeks and boiling snow for water. She also made tea each day using pine needles and manzanita. To keep herself calm, she wrote in a journal every day.She finally reached Vermilion Valley Resort, hidden deep in the Sierra mountains and often cut off by snow. The cabin she found was unlocked, and the resort owner keeps it that way in case lost hikers need a place to stay.“I thought I had somehow managed to make it to the North Pole,” Slaton said, describing the moment she saw the cabin. Inside, she found a sleeping bag, which she called “the best sleeping bag I had ever seen.”The next day, just before her 28th birthday, the resort owner came. The roads had only just been cleared. “She pops out, didn’t say a word, just ran up, and all she wanted was a hug,” he said. “That’s when I realised who this was.”“She said, ‘Dad, I’m alive, and I’m sorry,’” her father Bobby was quoted as saying to NBC News. “Those prayers were answered.”Fresno County Sheriff John Zanoni called her tale one “they would make movies about.” His colleague Tony Botti added, “She’s a fighter. She’s not going to give up.”
