- A hiker spent some eight hours trapped above a vertical cliff face in the Adirondack Mountains.
- The temperatures were frigid, and rescuers didn’t reach her until 1:30 a.m. on December 27.
- Rangers said the only thing preventing her from falling over the cliff was a small spruce tree.
An experienced hiker in New York’s Adirondack Mountains recently survived a harrowing night trapped just above a cliff, in frigid temperatures, after sliding hundreds of feet from the summit of South Dix Mountain.
“She had fallen several hundred feet down steep snow and a rockslide before grabbing a small spruce tree, which prevented her from going over a vertical cliff face,” the Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers said in a statement. “The conditions were treacherous with pouring rain, soaking wet spruce tree cover, deep snow, and slippery ice. In addition to a higher likelihood of injury, these conditions also lead to potential hypothermia.”
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The hiker, 46-year-old Hope Lloyd, set out on her journey on December 26. She fell near the summit around 5:30 p.m., and called 911 for help.
Lloyd told the Associated Press she was too frightened to move from her perch, worried she would fall off the cliff. She used an emergency blanket to keep warm, and tried to move around to generate heat.
In a video describing the incident, Ranger Jamison Martin said Lloyd “quite honestly thought she was going to die up there.”
“She was just petrified to move in any direction,” Martin added. “She basically felt like she was totally stuck.
Martin and a fellow ranger didn’t reach her for rescue until 1:30 a.m., some eight hours after her fall. The DEC Forest Rangers said they gave Lloyd warm liquids, food, and dry clothing, and escorted her back to her vehicle.
“I feel extremely grateful. Extremely grateful,” Lloyd told the Associated Press. “I just want to hug everybody.”
