12-Hour Rescue: Forest Rangers Transport Injured Hiker To Safety

ULSTER COUNTY, NY — A 12-hour mountain rescue mission that included a 250-foot vertical drop and a helicopter hoist began at 1 p.m. Sept. 21 when an injured hiker contacted Ulster County 911.

The hiker, a 53-year-old from Stone Ridge, New York, fell below Cornell Crack, a rock scramble on the Wittenberg Mountain Trail in the Slide Wilderness, and said he thought his leg was broken just above the ankle.

Forest Rangers responded to Parish Field in Phoenicia to set up a command post and develop a plan for extrication. Due to the hiker’s remote location, a request for New York State Police Aviation was also made.

At 3 p.m., one ranger was picked up by NYSP Aviation and inserted about a third of a mile from the injured hiker’s location. Once there, he assessed the man's injuries.

A second ranger coordinated the second insertion of more rangers and rope gear, while also planning for a possible carryout. Due to the low cloud cover and terrain, the hiker needed to be packaged in a litter and carried to a lower point to be hoisted out.

Two rangers were inserted with a litter and additional gear necessary for the carryout. Once the hiker was packaged in the wheeled litter, they transported him 250 vertical feet down to the extraction point.

At 6:30 p.m., the hoist was completed and the hiker was flown to Kingston Airport where he was met by a Mobile Life Support Services Ambulance. He declined additional medical transportation and was driven by his mother to a local hospital.

Rangers then packed up the excess gear and proceeded back down the mountain. The scene was cleared at 12:36 a.m.

The DEC thanked NYSP Aviation, NYSP Special Operations Response Team (SORT), Phoenicia Fire Department, Shandaken EMS, Shandaken Police Department, and Catskill Mountain Search and Rescue for helping with the mission.