Hiker critically hurt after fall over icy cliff at Pilot Mountain, NC officials say

A hiker from the Charlotte area was hospitalized in critical condition Sunday after falling more than 50 feet from an icy cliff at Pilot Mountain State Park, rescuers say.

The identity of the hiker has not been released, but state parks officials told the Associated Press it was a “woman in her 60s from the Charlotte area” and the fall came after she slipped on the trail.

It happened around noon “from a ledge on the Ledge Springs Trail,” TV station WXII reports. Pilot Mountain is about 20 miles northwest of Winston-Salem, near the Virginia state line.

Pilot Mountain Rescue and EMS reports the rescue was made more challenging by a layer of snow and ice on the mountain, leftover from a Friday storm that dumped up to 8 inches of snow on parts of the state.

“The patient was in critical condition somewhere off the back side of the parking lot overlook area at the summit,” the agency posted on Facebook.

“Once we got to the patient, we found that they were still 50 ft below the trail at the bottom of the cliff, which is not our typical mountain rescue scenario. Ropes had to be setup and used to help pull the patient in a basket back up to the trail, under and over fallen trees and through the overgrowth and brush.”

The hiker was then carried to the parking lot, where an ambulance was waiting, the agency said.

One of the rescuers was injured during the operation “after slipping on the ice while trying to get equipment to the patient,” the agency said.

Multiple agencies responded to the rescue, including Surry County EMS, Pinnacle Fire/Rescue, Mount Airy and Dobson Rescue Squads, and the Pilot Knob Volunteer Fire Department, the agency said.

This story was originally published January 11, 2021 at 7:49 AM with the headline "Hiker critically hurt after fall over icy cliff at Pilot Mountain, NC officials say."