Fatality on Hunter Mountain (Catskills)
- Thread starter Tom Rankin
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ChrisB
Well-known member
Tom,
How technical is that trail? The rescue report says...
The steep, icy trail forced rangers to rig rope systems and a sked rescue stretcher for the technical descent down Becker Hollow trail.
It’s a regular old hiking trail. Nothing particularly noteworthy. Steepish in parts in the upper reaches but still solidly class 1 ... was up it with with my 10-year-old a couple of summers ago. I think the extrication was probably made more complicated by the melt and refreeze cycles of the last couple of weeks.
Sorry to hear about this.
Sorry to hear about this.
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Mike P.
Well-known member
The trails up from 214 all have pretty steep pitches, no scrambling but similar to NH's Ammo above Gem Pool or Beaver Brook from 112. (Steep staircase for several tenths of a mile)
Like Beaver Brook, it's a place with little afternoon sunshine. I did this hike for Y2K, it seemed a good place where all that failing tech was going to fall out of the sky. After the warm weather the days before, it likely could be icy.
Like Beaver Brook, it's a place with little afternoon sunshine. I did this hike for Y2K, it seemed a good place where all that failing tech was going to fall out of the sky. After the warm weather the days before, it likely could be icy.
... and just because it’s not technical hiking/climbing terrain doesn’t mean it’s inaccurate to call the extrication (recovery) technical. Ropes and other equipment were required for it, thus making it technical.
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Tom Rankin
Well-known member
It's moderately steep and it's side-hilling quite a bit. It it was icy, even worse. I'm not sure why they did not go up to the clearing where there was a waiting snowmobile. ??
Mike P.
Well-known member
Do we know how far from the top and clearing they were and can you connect a winch to a snowmobile? Assuming the terrain was such that you could not walk down, or up very easily carrying a litter, lowering would be easier. With a couple of ropes some padding to make sure you did not fray the ropes or damage the trees (like you were setting up a top roping anchors, and some people to guide the litter, gravity could assist you in lowering the body.
A little more detail including the identity of the hiker ... Robert Gerity, said to be an avid hiker who died doing what he loved.
https://www.hudsonvalley360.com/news/greenecounty/dec-hiker-found-dead-in-greene-county/article_a43c039d-8c85-53b8-9047-d8e942fd7ac8.html
https://www.hudsonvalley360.com/news/greenecounty/dec-hiker-found-dead-in-greene-county/article_a43c039d-8c85-53b8-9047-d8e942fd7ac8.html
Tom Rankin
Well-known member
The stated half mile is mostly on a mellow part of the trail. But I wasn't there. In any case, glad we have the Rangers to assist with these tough situations.
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