By Mary O’KEEFE

It can happen to anyone. You go out for a hike and think you are prepared for anything and everything when the ground, literally, begins to crumble beneath you. That is what happened to a hiker who was out with her husband on Monday.

Glendale police responded to a call concerning a stranded hiker above Brand Park at about 2:42 p.m. on Oct. 11. The call came from a couple who had been hiking and found themselves in an area of unsafe terrain that they could not get out of without assistance, according to Sgt. Christian Hauptmann, GPD spokesman.

“Traffic personnel located the at-risk parties and summoned Glendale Fire and Montrose Search and Rescue,” Hauptmann added.

Doug Cramoline and Mike Leum, Montrose Search and Rescue members out of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept.-Crescenta Valley Station, responded to the call.

It was an unusual call for MSR, whose team members usually respond to calls in the Angeles National Forest area.

“I grew up not far from there, above Brand Park,” Leum said, so he knew the area well.

When Leum and Cramoline arrived GPD officers pointed out where the couple were.

The husband had called for help after his wife found herself in a steep area and was unable to climb up. Cramoline said it appeared the wife had started down a trail but the ground was unstable and she couldn’t make it back up to the ridge where her husband was standing.

“It was steep and [the ground was] loose,” Cramoline said. “I lowered Mike down and he was able to put a pickup harness around her.”

“The ground was super crumbly,” Leum said. “It was almost impossible to get a decent foothold.”

He added the wife was smart to stay in place because she could have easily fallen farther down the slope. The husband was smart, too, because he knew he had to call for help.

“They were also hiking together, which is a good thing,” Leum added.

The rescue team, along with the help of the husband, was able to get the woman back onto sturdy ground.

Even though the hikers were fit and knew the area they still found themselves in a dangerous position. They knew to call for help before it got too dark and, importantly, were hiking together.

Leum pointed out that, due to inconsistent cellphone service throughout mountainous areas, if the hiker had been alone it might have taken a longer time for help to arrive.

Glendale Fire, Police and MSR worked together to get the hikers safely out of the area.