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General News: Hikers Rescued on Icy Mountainside
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| Cornwall fire chief Patrick Hines and assistant chief Autavis Graham bring the last 100 feet of rope up the mountainside. |
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| The injured hiker is brought down in a basket guided by ropes. |
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| Rescue workers moved the injured hiker down the icy slope. |
February 10, 2011
The Cornwall fire department led a six-and-a-half hour rescue operation on the ice-clad slopes of Storm King Mountain on Wednesday night that successfully brought an injured snowshoe hiker and his companion to safety.
Cornwall fire chief Patrick Hines says that his department first got the call at 3:30 pm that a hiker was injured on a trail leading from the flagpole parking lot on Route 9W. While the fire department rescuers followed the hikers’ trail and climbed the icy mountain, some using ropes and crampons to get up the icy summit, a New York state police helicopter searched the slopes. The two hikers were located on the north side of the mountain, where, Hines said, they had left the trail and apparently were trying to make their way down to Route 218.
“They hit a vertical ice flow, “ Hines said, “and one of the hikers sustained injuries to his shoulder.”
Members of the Storm King Fire Engine Company #2 made contact with the hikers around 6 pm and the rescue operation moved to a closed section of Route 218. Units from the West Point Fire Department, the Palisades Interstate Park police and rangers assisted as a rope rescue was put in action.
Fourteen responders climbed straight up the mountainside through the snow carrying ropes and equipment until they reached the hikers. Chief Hines said that it took an hour and a half to prepare the injured the hiker in a basket tethered to ropes for the slow descent through the ice and snow covered slopes.
“Our real concern is that it is treacherous up there right now,” Hines said as the lights of the descending rescuers appeared through the trees shortly after 9 pm. “This put a lot of rescuers in danger.” He also said the threat of hypothermia was very real as the temperatures hovered around twenty degrees.
Shortly before 10 pm, the injured hiker made it to the roadside, his companion walking on snowshoes with ski poles, a big smile of his face. The two male hikers were unidentified but Chief Hines said they are believed to be from Connecticut.
Lt. S.J. Wishinski of the Palisades Interstate Park police said that he plans to issue tickets to the pair for leaving the trails inside the park. Chief Hines said that he had no plans to seek re-imbursement for the rescue operation, which, he said, cost his department hours of manpower, with 50 people involved.
Comments:
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Great story with a happy ending, I could hear them and the cold had me concerned . Glad everyone is alive.
posted by Karen Schaack on 02/10/11 at 8:46 AM
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So good to read about this rescue. A hiker at Rockland Lake Park down here was not so lucky: http://www.lohud.com/article/2010102090334
posted by Catherine Paull on 02/10/11 at 6:56 PM
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How fortunate we are to have such dedicated volunteers! This is truly a testament to their professionalism.
posted by Wynn Gold on 02/11/11 at 4:17 PM
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