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Samantha Hayes reportingTwo Salt Lake County teens spent the night under a pine tree on Mount Olympus after getting lost Friday night. They hiked the mountain to watch fireworks, and Saturday they repelled down the mountain after being rescued.
Search and rescue teams hit Mt. Olympus early Saturday morning after receiving a call at 4:30 that two teens were missing.
Mindy Tagged, 16, and Alan Monsen, 18, both students at Olympus High, set out Friday with three flashlights, six water bottles, two blankets, and a sweatshirt.
They climbed Mt. Olympus to watch Friday night's fireworks show. After the show, they started back down the mountain. Soon they were lost and in the dark.
Alan Monsen/ Lost Hiker: "We started down and there were a lot of drop offs. So we'd have to keep going in a diagonal and try not to hit any of the cliffs, 'cause there were a lot of them."
Mindy Tagged/ Salt Lake County: "We brought three flashlights, but they all died on us throughout the night. So that's one reason why we had to stop, 'cause we were exhausted and we didn't have any more lights."
They fell asleep under a pine tree, huddled together under their blankets. They awoke at 6:00 Saturday morning and again started trying to make their way down the mountain.
Monsen: "We heard a chopper, and it was flying around, and we didn't think much of it until it started circling. So we got off the cliff part and decided to wait to have the helicopter try to spot us."
Search and Rescue officer: "They did the right thing. They stayed right there. A helicopter found them, and the helicopter was able to guide the teams that went in both directions to them. They were able to bring them out safely."
The teens were found a little after 6:00 Saturday morning on the top of Hugh's Canyon at 7,000 feet elevation.
Search and rescue crews strapped them in, and repelled them down the mountain towards safety, ending a scary night that neither teen anticipated.
The teens say they had a plan with their parents that if they weren't home by 2:00 in the morning, something was wrong. At 4:30 am their parents called police.-->