Two hikers were rescued by firefighters Saturday afternoon after they slipped on an icy trail at the Steep Rock Reservation and slid down a 60-foot embankment, the Republican-American reported.
The names of the hikers, a man and a woman, were not released. The woman suffered a minor knee injury and was hospitalized, according to Mark Lyon, a selectman and past fire chief. The man was not injured.
Firefighters used ropes to get the man down from a ledge approximately 30 feet below the trail, Lyon said.
"It was one of those things where he couldn't go up or down. He was stuck," he said.
After falling all the way down the embankment, the woman toppled onto ice in the Shepaug River and was able to scramble across the river onto the other side, where there is another trail. Lyon said other hikers found her and called 911 at about noon.
The woman was brought out of the 750-acre reservation to an ambulance parked at the main entrance off Tunnel Road, while three firefighters trained in rope rescue crossed the river and went up the embankment after the man, Lyon told the Republican-American.
Using ropes, they climbed onto the bank, crawled up past the man, then came back down and attached a rope to him. Then they lowered him down.
Both hikers were appropriately dressed for temperatures in the mid-40s, Lyon said, although rescue personnel did have initial concerns about hypothermia.
"He said he was getting cold," Lyon said of the man. "She was fine from what I understand. I know she was wet, though."
Four emergency medical technicians and a dozen firefighters responded, he told the Republican-American.
"They were very appreciative," Lyon said of the hikers. "It's nice to have pleased customers."
