NORTH HUDSON, N.Y. (WCAX) – An experienced hiker is back on solid ground after a harrowing rescue in the Adirondacks.
At around 5:30 pm on December 26, Ray Brook Dispatch contacted forest rangers about a hiker who had slipped from the summit of South Dix mountain. She slid several hundred feet down deep snow and a rock slide before grabbing onto a small tree, which kept her from going over a cliff.
The 46-year-old hiker from South Glens Falls was asked to call 9-1-1 to get her coordinates. Rangers reached her around 1:30 a.m. and brought her back to the trail.
It was pouring rain with deep snow and icy conditions a recipe for disaster according to Ranger Martin.
“Those aren’t the conditions to go out in … I get that pushing yourself is a thing, to challenge yourself but you got to work yourself up to that situation. To go out in 33 degrees and raining and do something smaller,” said Ranger Jamison Martin with the New York Forest Rangers.
Martin says if you are going to hike in bad conditions, he recommends bringing waterproof, breathable layers that are either synthetic or wool to keep warm and dry.
He also encourages bringing multiple puffy and base layers to switch out in case one layer gets wet.