General News: Two Cadets Rescued from Storm King Mountain
February 20, 2011
Two freshman cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point are recovering in a hospital following their rescue from a mountainside in Storm King State Park early Sunday morning. The pair had been rappelling on the slope known as Crow’s Nest late Saturday afternoon.
According to the USMA public affairs office, West Point emergency personnel began a rescue attempt at 6:30 pm and the cadets were spotted at 7:10 pm in a location with such icy terrain that they would be difficult, if not impossible, to reach. The Highland Falls and Cornwall fire departments also responded and three hours into the effort, Cornwall’s chief Patrick Hines said that the department’s rope rescue squad was attempting to retrieve the two cadets by entering the park from Route 9W.
Meanwhile, the two cadets, uninjured, had secured themselves to a tree and were not in danger of falling, though the high winds and below freezing temperatures concerned the rescuers, according to Hines. Throughout the eight-hour rescue operation the cadets communicated with responders via cellphone.
The pair was finally taken off the hillside via a New York City Police helicopter at approximately 2:40 am and transported to Keller Army Community Hospital for observation. The New York State police also provided air support as it did on February 10th, when two hikers, one of them with injuries, were rescued from the north side of Storm King Mountain.
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