The man fell about 30 feet, rangers say
State forest rangers rescued an ice climber on Tuesday at a popular ice-climbing location on Pitchoff Mountain. It’s the second rescue in that general area in recent weeks. On Tuesday, the 73-year-old climber injured his pelvis and leg after falling about 30 feet, though the severity of the injury was undetermined at the rescue.
The rescue call was made at 1:20 p.m. and rangers turned the patient over to emergency services at 3:40 p.m. Robbi Mecus, a forest ranger on the scene said she and other responders used snowmobiles to access the patient from Jackrabbit Trail to the north side of the mountain, which has steep, icy terrain.
The man, who traveled to the Adirondacks from Massachusetts, sat for about an hour before the rangers got to the scene, she said. After stabilizing the man’s injuries, the rangers got the man down the hillside and used a snowmobile to relocate him.
Rangers have responded to three ice-climbing accidents and recoveries so far this season, which is more than in the past five years.
Rescues and recoveries since 2019, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation:
- 2024: 3
- 2023: 2
- 2022: 1
- 2021: 0
- 2020: 0
- 2019: 2
Mecus said she didn’t have any different advice for ice climbing this winter compared to others, but cautioned climbers against over-extending themselves.
“The backcountry is not the place to sort of push the grade and push your abilities,” she said. “You stay within your abilities and just climb safely.”
RELATED READING: Experienced ice climber describes Jan. 9 accident on Pitchoff Right
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Different Pitchoff? Maybe…
North side of Pitchoff
Seems like good, factual, non-judgmental reporting. Nice to have input from Robbie as a Ranger and a respected ice climber. Looking forward to an accident analysis so we (ice climbers) can maybe learn and be more safe. I just don’t understand the implication of some drama in the statement, “It’s the second rescue in that general area in recent weeks,” or why this is in bold and underlined, looking like some grave foretelling of evil ice spirits or some area conspiracy. If this is a link to the previous ice climbing rescue, it doesn’t need the drama. It could have happened at the exact same location, or 20 feet away, or 20 miles away. This happened to be on the same mountain, but on the complete opposite side. I would be more interested in factors that matter, such as weather, environment, time of day, name of the ice feature, number of climbers, condition of the ice, what pitch, leading or seconding, and whether this happened while climbing or rappelling. Hope this helps!