Rescuer suffers heart trouble while saving hiker
Team needed to help one of its own while leaving Mount Marcy
The challenge of a rescue on the top of Mount Marcy was compounded Saturday night when a member of the rescue team started suffering from a heart condition and had to be carried out of the wilderness, too.
The rescue began at 10:48 a.m. when Franklin County 911 transferred a call to state Department of Environmental Conservation dispatchers: A hiker was injured atop the state’s highest peak.
A 52-year-old woman from Bailey, Colo., had slipped on ice and suffered a hip injury.
Nine state forest rangers and two volunteers from Search and Rescue of the Northern Adirondacks responded to the Adirondak Loj to evacuate the injured hiker.
A State Police helicopter was requested but poor weather conditions kept it from flying.
By 4:39 p.m. a pair of rangers who trekked up the mountain found the woman and determined she would have to be carried out. At 15 miles roundtrip, the shortest route out would be more than 7 miles over rugged terrain, some of which was still covered with snow and ice.
While waiting for more help, they stabilized her injury and constructed a small shelter to prevent further exposure to the cold. Even in May the top of Mount Marcy can experience arctic-like conditions due to the elevation. The summit is 5,344 feet above sea level.
A paramedic from Lake Placid also made it up the mountain to provide additional care.
The injured hiker was placed on a litter at 6:58 p.m., and rescuers began to carry her out, battling 2 to 3 feet of snowpack and ice on the mountain trail.
Additional rangers arrived to relieve the first team of rescuers and, with the assistance of State Police, began transporting additional rescuers to the Marcy Dam Outpost below the base of the mountain.
During the evacuation, one of the rescuers presented possible cardiac symptoms. The paramedic on scene evaluated and closely monitored the rescuer while the remaining rescuers continued carrying out the injured hiker.
Authorities did not reveal the identity of the injured hiker or the stricken rescuer.
By 3 a.m., the two patients were evacuated and transferred to waiting ambulances for trips to a local hospital for medical treatment.