Just before 1pm on Sunday, March 22nd, the Linville-Central Rescue Squad in North Carolina was alerted to a report of a hiker who’d fallen from a ladder on Grandfather Mountain, a hike often considered to be one of the most technical climbs in the southeast.
Members of the rescue squad worked with Linville Volunteer Fire Department , Grandfather Mountain State Park , Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation, Avery County EM, NCEM and NC Mountain Rescue Team 1 to locate the subject at the bottom of the ladder, stuck at an elevation of around 5,800 feet.
Following an initial medical treatment, the long carry out began. Several sections of the descent required crews to lower the subject by rope. Eventually, given the length of the carry out, the technical aspects, and the mechanism of injury, NC HART was contacted for a hoist operation.
Crews safely hoisted the subject off the trail before flying to a landing zone where they were transferred to a medical helicopter for flight to a facility where definitive care could be provided.
The hiker had fallen from the last ladder before MacRae Peak, part of the upper mountain ridge Grandfather Trail on Grandfather Mountain. The hike is only 4.8 miles round trip, but it features around 1,800 feet of vertical gain and requires the use of ladders and cables at the steepest sections. Even the best hikers average just 1mph throughout the climb.
