Man rescued by helicopter from Ragged Point in Big Sur called for help from his cell phone.

We don’t know much about the identity of the man who got stranded and rescued by a helicopter from Ragged Point in Big Sur, 100 feet below the edge of a cliff and hundreds of feet above the water on the afternoon of Monday, Nov. 29.

The California Highway Patrol Coastal Division Air Operations didn't provide many details about the man, but this is not the first time someone ended up in trouble after leaving the hiking path trying to reach a nice vista from the bottom, says Sgt. Steve Neumann, who was in charge of the operation.

Neumann confirms that the hiker placed the call for help himself, from his cell phone at about 3:30pm. He remained stranded, clinging to a side of a cliff for about an hour on his own, before help arrived, Neumann estimates.

“The crew launched and located the man who appeared exhausted but stable, clinging precariously to a small ledge several hundred feet above the surf line and over 100 feet below the highway,” the CHP announced on Nov. 29. “The crew used the helicopter’s public address system to tell the man to remain where he was and reassure him.”

No injuries were reported. The man was then taken over to the Ragged Point Inn and attended to by an ambulance team from Cambria.

The Coastal Division is one of eight units of the CHP and the team is in charge of the coastal land from Los Angeles up to Santa Clara, “all this region,” Neumann says. Based in San Luis Obispo, they were about 20 minutes from Ragged Point.

While the operation was “pretty straightforward,” Neumann says, “it required some skills and confidence.” It seems benign, but is always technically tricky to carefully approach a stranded person, “to dislodge nothing and safely place him in the basket,” he adds.

You can watch and judge by yourself below.