Rock Climber Rescued After Falling At Least 40 Feet In Bucks County
By Diana Rocco
PIPERSVILLE, Pa. (CBS) — The pictures show a daring and dangerous rescue on Easter Sunday after a climber on the high rocks at Ralph Stover State Park in Bucks County falls into the ravine.
"He had fallen at least about 40 feet, landed on his back on some rocks, was in a lot of pain," said Point Pleasant Volunteer Fire Company Chief Scott Fleischer.
The Point Pleasant Volunteer Fire Company got the call just before 1 p.m. A 59-year-old had a miscommunication with other climbers in his group and slipped. Chief Scott Fleischer says the rescues are difficult and time intensive, but it's something they train for.
"It certainly is a race against time and we're working against the clock to get them to care and that's why we bring a helicopter in ultimately to evacuate them to the hospital. However, you can only go so fast down there, it's very tight terrain, there's not a lot of room," said Chief Fleischer.
The 911 caller was able to meet emergency crews in a parking lot and then direct them along the path to where the climber fell.
"He was awake we call it conscious alert and oriented. He remembered the fall, he was in some significant amounts of pain," said Assistant Chief Darren Carroll.
You see firefighters tackling the terrain to form a human chain and a sort of zip line across the ravine hoisting the injured man strapped to a board 75 feet in the air from one side of the cliff to a waiting helicopter. A rescue they've done dozens of times before, this time they say the climber was lucky his injuries weren't worse.
"These cliffs are somewhat treacherous if not respected," said Dive Captain Pat Magione.
The climber remains at Temple University Hospital. He sustained some broken bones and injuries to his back and legs.