NEWS

Hikers rescued after fall, night outdoors in BTV

DAN D'AMBROSIO and MIKE DONOGHUE
Free Press Staff Writers

Two hikers were brought to safety Friday afternoon after spending the night along Lake Champlain in Burlington after one of them fell 60 feet, and the other was hurt in a rescue attempt.

Karen Ross and Elisabeth Podesta were taken to University of Vermont Medical Center, where they were listed in serious condition Friday evening. Both women were believed to be in their 50s and from the Burlington area, emergency workers said.

One woman fell about 60 feet down a steep rocky embankment at Rock Point to the shores of the lake, Burlington Fire Department Deputy Chief Peter Brown said. He said the second woman injured herself while trying to retrieve her friend.

The women yelled for aid overnight, but apparently nobody heard them.

Another hiker in the area Friday finally heard the pair's cries, but that person couldn't see the victims at the base of the cliff and went to a nearby residence to call 911. The two women were conscious and talking "but very cold and wet" from overnight rain, Brown said.

Brown said the call came in at 11:19 a.m. Friday, and public safety officials agreed that recovery would need to be made by way of the water by the U.S. Coast Guard, which recovered the injured hikers at about 12:25 p.m.

Rescuers lowered stretchers over a cliff about 80 feet high, according to freelance photographer Wayne Savage, who was on the scene. The Coast Guard maneuvered a boat near where the injured hikers were located, immobilized them on stretchers and lifted them into the boat to be transported back to the Coast Guard station on Lake Champlain.

Emergency responders lower rescue equipment via rope over the cliff’s edge after two people fell from the Rock Point cliffs in Burlington and were forced to spend the night injured on the shores of Lake Champlain.

About a dozen Burlington Fire Department members along with the Coast Guard made the recovery, Brown said. South Burlington Fire Department Ambulance and UVM Rescue took the women to the hospital.

Brown said he did not have information on the extent of the hikers' injuries but said back and neck precautions were taken when the pair were loaded onto stretchers.

Rock Point is a ledge area that overlooks the lake and has a few trails that lead down to the lake. Brown did not know whether the hikers were on a trail when they fell.

"It's a very rugged area," Brown said. "Staying on the trails is important."

The Burlington Fire Department urged hikers to alert somebody about travel plans and what time they plan to return.

The U.S. Coast Guard and firefighters in Burlington transfer a woman onto the deck of a Coast Guard boat after she was rescued from the base of the cliff.
Burlington Fire Department Deputy Chief Peter Brown provides an update Friday afternoon on two hikers who were rescued at about noon after falling on Thursday at Rock Point and spending the night trapped there.
The U.S. Coast Guard transfers hikers injured at Rock Point to ambulances at about 12:40 p.m. at the Coast Guard’s station on Burlington’s waterfront.

C ontact Dan D'Ambrosio at 660-1841 or ddambrosio@freepressmedia.com. Follow Dan on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DanDambrosioVT. Contact Mike Donoghue at 660-1845 or mdonoghue@freepressmedia.com. Follow Mike on Twitter at www.twitter.com/FreepsMikeD .