Costa Mesa hiker recovering from freezing night on mountain

A Costa Mesa woman and her hiking companion are recovering from injuries sustained during a mountain trip that went awry, forcing them to endure subzero temperatures overnight.

Tiffany Finney, 21, and Kenny Pastén, 29, of Garden Grove were hiking in the San Bernardino National Forest near Big Bear on Dec. 13 when temperatures dropped to below freezing and blizzard-like conditions hit the area.

The pair’s goal was to plant an American flag on the 11,500-foot summit of San Gorgonio, but the flag ended up being used to keep them warm. Aside from a sleeping bag, they did not have sufficient winter clothing or shelter.

Pastén, an Army veteran, told the Daily Pilot that the weather went from warm and sunny to 2 feet of snow and darkness.

“The weather came out from behind the mountains,” he said.

He said that the group — which also included Pastén’s Belgian Malinois service dog, RexiTron — dug a foxhole under a tree and became buried in two feet of snow. Finney said she blacked out during much of the experience.

Pastén suffered moderate hypothermia and frostbite to his ears, toes and fingers. He also had muscle and kidney damage.

He was later able to call in a rescue team after finding cell phone reception. RexiTron was found largely unharmed.

On Wednesday, Pastén said he was “about 90%” recovered.

Finney was released from the hospital earlier this week and plans to travel to her native Georgia to recover alongside her family. She suffered from severe frostbite to her hands and fingers. Doctors believe her injuries are not permanent.

“I’m OK,” Finney said Wednesday. “Couch sitting, watching movies and eating is my life now. It’s hard to go from being so active to not being able to do anything. The feeling is coming back, little by little, as the blood comes to my fingers and toes, so it’s pretty painful. I can’t walk long. I can only pick things up with my index and thumbs.”

Finney added that she’s been on “an emotional roller coaster from being happy to be alive to being depressed because of my inability to be independent. [I’m now] back to being thankful for it not being permanent.”

In a Facebook post earlier this week, she joked that her swollen hands and feet made her look like a zombie.

“It should go back to Halloween,” she said. “I would be an awesome zombie. Got the walk down and everything.”

A San Bernardino County Fire Department official noted the severity of Finney’s hypothermia when they found her, crawling on her hands and knees, the morning of Dec. 14.

“She had about a half-hour left before we would have seen a fatal injury,” department spokesman Eric Sherwin told NBC Los Angeles.

The trio was found about a quarter-mile from the San Gorgonio summit, at around 11,000 feet elevation. Pastén said he left RexiTron with Finney so the dog could help keep her warm as he went to higher ground to get cell phone reception and call for help.

Anonymous donors, friends and family have come to Finney’s aid since the rescue.

A GoFundMe online account is raising $5,000 toward her medical bills. As of Wednesday, nearly $2,000 was raised from 42 donors.

Finney said she received some positive news, this time about the American flag she and Pastén left behind.

A man named Efraín Portales messaged her on social media. He and his son are experienced hikers who managed to locate the “still-frozen flag” and bring it to the top of San Gorgonio, he told her.

Finney said she doesn’t know Portales or his son, but added: “I would love to thank them.”