Adirondack Ranger Rescues

I find it amazing how often the helicopter is called out. It seems to be quite the typical occurrence. If a helicopter is ever called to rescue someone around here, it makes regional - if not provincial - news. The most recent helicopter rescues I can think of are ice fishermen getting caught on ice floes that have broken away from land while they are out fishing on them.

Medical air transport has been shown to be a cost effective and efficient manner to get people injured in a  trauma incident back to a hospital given the routinely large distances found here in the states. And in the case of wilderness recoveries the possibility of having the rescuers get injured can be a significant possibility alongside the delay in getting the victim back to effective treatment.

Air medical evacuation saves a lot of lives: heart attack victims? Every minute of delay is more dead heart tissue..... and it's not only getting the patient to a hospital, it's getting them to the right hospital that's set up for their medical condition: Trauma care is a perishable skill so there's a concentration at a few medical centers to keep the skills fresh and sharp.

Road travel is not the bottleneck. It's the trails. The incidents listed above occurred 3-7 miles from the trailhead. Carrying someone on a stretcher, you'd be lucky to average 1 mph on that terrain.

I figure they'd simply litter and hoist.

August 31 - September 7:

www.syracuse.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2015/09/post_19.html#incart_river

Regarding the "rescue" on Whiteface... I recently hiked that route with my family. There is no "bushwhack". You get off the gondola, hike up a ski trail/service road to the top of the upper chairlift, then take a steep but very obvious herdpath to the open summit ridge, about 200 feet below the summit. After summiting, my 6-year-old led us out and down. It's that obvious. My opinion: These people summited late, then realized the gondola wouldn't be running by the time they got back, so called in a rescue because they didn't want to walk all the way down the mountain.

Sept 21 - 27:

www.syracuse.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2015/09/iphone_screenshot_saves_the_day_for_lost_hikers_adirondack_ranger_rescues.html#incart_river_home

Interesting:

iPhone screenshot saves the day for lost teenagers: Adirondack Ranger rescues

On September 27, 2015, at 7:44 p.m., DEC Ray Brook Dispatch received a call transferred from Warren County 911 from two lost hikers on Black Mountain. The 16-year-old female and 16-year-old male, both from Albany, had left at 4 p.m. from the Pike Brook Road to hike to the summit of Black Mountain and had become lost after leaving the summit.

Warren County 911 provided an initial set of coordinates that placed the youths between the summits of Black Mountain and Sleeping Beauty. Dispatch immediately established text contact and directed the hikers to call 911 again to confirm the initial coordinates but the hikers were unable to do so. Two DEC Forest Rangers continued to the area of the initial coordinates given.

At 10:54 p.m., the first Forest Ranger reached the location of the initial 911 coordinates but did not locate the pair. Dispatch directed them to call 911 again to try to re-bid coordinates. This third time, 911 was able to obtain cell phone coordinates that were 2.8 miles away from the first location and on the west side of Black Mountain, approximately 3/4 of a mile from Black Mountain Point on the shores of Lake George.

A Forest Ranger overheard the radio traffic and inquired if the hikers had an iPhone. Dispatch was able to determine from the texts that the hikers did have an iPhone. Per the third Ranger, Dispatch directed the hikers to open the Compass application as it should also have coordinates. Dispatch had them send a screen shot of the compass app and plotted the coordinates, which confirmed the third and most recent 911 coordinates.

The third Ranger then responded by boat to Black Mountain Point while the hikers were directed to hike downhill on the trail to Lake George. At 12:53 a.m. the hikers reached the Forest Ranger boat and were taken to a Forest Ranger vehicle at 1:30 a.m, which transported them to waiting family members by 2:30 a.m.