Ready for the rescue

This year was yet another busy one for the Waterbury Backcountry Rescue Team. Beginning in May, the team responded to 16 rescue calls in the woods and on the mountains around Waterbury.

The team responds to calls for injured or ill persons in the backcountry and to reports of missing persons.

In several instances outlined below, the hikers ignored the “Trails Closed” signs prior to the opening of the official season. In almost all cases, the hikers had inadequate water, food and clothing, but did have cell phones to call 911.

Likewise, almost none had matches or headlamps. In many of these cases, other rescue teams also participated and were key to the success of the rescue.

May 6: Team members searched Camels Hump for a missing 22-year-old male hiker. As they neared the summit, they were recalled and redirected to Fayston, where they then assisted in the recovery of the hiker’s body off the Hedgehog Brook Trail. The hiker had wandered off trail and perished during the night. 

May 13: Two female hikers, ages 20 and 21, became lost on Hunger Mountain with no extra clothes, food, or water. After wandering off trail and into dense underbrush, they were located below the summit at 3:44 a.m. Both were very chilled.

May 14: A 63-year-old female fell and suffered a femur fracture on an extremely icy and muddy trail on Camels Hump. The footing for rescuers carrying the litter was treacherous. 

June 19: Just at sunset, the Vermont State Police requested Waterbury Backcountry Rescue Team assistance in locating a panicked and lost 22-year-old female from New York on Camels Hump. She had no idea what trails she had hiked or where she had parked her car. She was located off trail at 10:47 p.m. Despite being told several times to stay put on the trail, she had continually wandered throughout the night. She was walked to her car at 1:07 a.m.

June 20: A 52-year-old attorney from Chicago called 911 at sunset to report that he had run out of food and water and was having leg cramps and unable to hike. Not having adequate clothing, he was very cold and requested rescuers to hurry. Other hikers stumbled upon him and, after they gave him fluids to drink, he was able to hike out with the rescue team’s guidance.

June 21: Two members responded mutual aid to Smugglers Notch.

Aug. 10: A 58-year-old female was injured in an ATV accident on Woodard Hill.

Aug. 13: Search for a missing female teenager in Moretown. She stumbled out of the woods on her own.

Aug. 15: A 21-year-old female hiker left the Waterbury side of Hunger Mountain alone in the rain and very late in the day. She was reported missing at midnight and located on the opposite side of the mountain at 3:40 a.m.

Aug. 22: Three hikers on an orienteering exercise on Camels Hump were reported missing at 10:37 p.m. Green Mountain Club rangers found the hikers near the summit and guided them to the Montclair Glen lodge for the rest of the night.

Aug. 24: A 59-year-old female hiker injured her ankle on the Long Trail south of the summit of Camels Hump around 3:30 p.m. She was carried to safety after several rope belays over the ledges and arrived at the base at midnight.

Aug. 25: 911 received a call that a 60-year-old male near the summit of Camels Hump was having heart palpitations. He could not be found at the reported location and it was later learned that he ate a sandwich and was given fluids and walked out on his own.

Aug. 26: Waterbury Backcountry Rescue Team responded to Mount Mansfield in mutual aid to assist in carrying a female hiker with an ankle injury near the summit.

Aug. 26: A 24-year-old in an unwitnessed mountain-bike crash was fatally injured near Waterbury. CPR was provided in the backcountry and he survived three days.

Sept. 26: The team responded to Stowe on a mutual aid call to assist in carrying a hiker off the Pinnacle.

Oct. 11: The state police requested assistance in locating three Massachusetts hikers stranded on Camels Hump due to darkness. They were located and hiked out to their car at 10:22 p.m. They had been using their cell phones as flashlights until the batteries were drained.

Rescuers remind anyone venturing into the backcountry to be fully prepared for any emergency and don’t rely purely on a cell phone.

Brian Lindner is team leader of the Waterbury Backcountry Rescue Team.