Adirondack rescue employed chopper
Connecticut woman injured in fall at Mount Colden aided by rangers
State forest rangers ended a busy week on Sunday when they used a rope belay followed by a State Police helicopter to evacuate a 59-year-old Greenwich, Conn., woman injured after a fall on the Trap Dike, a nearvertical crack on Mount Colden that is popular with adventuresome Adirondack hikers and climbers.
A call regarding the injury came into the Department of Environmental Conservation’s dispatch center at 1:30 p.m., prompting 11 people to make their way to the scene. Rescuers included five forest rangers, four assistant rangers and two volunteer mountain climbers.
Four of the rescuers were brought to the base of the remote Mount Colden by helicopter.
By 5:30 p.m., rangers reached the woman, stabilized her injury and developed an evacuation plan. They had to set up a belay, or safety-rope system, lowering her approximately 100 yards to where a helicopter hoist could safely reach her. She was hoisted up to the helicopter at 6:15 p.m. and flown to a hospital.
The Trap Dike is a wellknown High Peaks climb, in which hikers or climbers have to ascend, hand over hand in some places, through a steep, narrow and often wet defile or cracklike feature on the mountainside. While not considered a technical climb such as those attempted by rock climbers, some people do use ropes on the Trap Dike. Those attempting it are advised to have some scrambling experience or experience on very steep, tricky terrain.
The day before, July 3, rangers at 7:30 p.m. got a call reporting a 53-year-old Glens Falls man with a weight-bearing knee injury on Seward Mountain, which also is in the High Peaks.
The man and a companion made it down a herd path, or unmarked trail, to a point where rangers picked them up with an all-terrain vehicle.
Catskills rangers were also busy, starting on June 29 when they overheard a 911 call regarding a missing 70-year-old man at Vernooy Kill Falls near Kerhonkson.
Rangers, along with the Ulster County Sheriff ’s office and rescue squads from Accord and Kerhonkson, responded. By 2:40 p.m., rangers located the missing man from Harpursville and transported him back to the trailhead by all-terrain vehicle. He had become disoriented when he attempted to return from the falls and ended up 2.5 miles away.