OLYMPIA, Wash.-- Chris Berry held a tree branch for hours to save his life after sliding down a 200 foot cliff.
"I was like God let this tree hold please, please," Berry said.
Berry and his friend were rescued from a cliff above the Nisqually River.
"I was sliding and I just sort of twisted my upper body like that and grabbed and I just dug as fast as I could and grabbed on to the branch and was like OK, oh God," Berry said.
Berry's friend was stuck on an unstable ledge 15 feet directly above him.
"Whenever he had to move he would say ‘rocks' and I'd huddle down and let the rocks hit me in the least vulnerable places," Berry said.
The boys used a cell phone to call for help and hung on for their lives in the dark and rain.
"I started shivering violently and I almost lost my hold a few times because I was shaking so bad, and I couldn't even feel the branch I was holding onto anymore," Berry said.
Both boys held tight for three hours knowing the fall could be deadly.
A Pierce County rescue team of 35 people arrived and rescued the teens.
"It felt pretty good. Especially when I was sitting in the ambulance, I thought I'm actually not going to die now, I feel good," Berry said.
The rescue was especially difficult because the area where the boys got stuck was extremely unstable.
