Injured hiker calls 911 after fall from ledge, then phone dies, NH rescuers say
.jpeg "The hiker fell about 30 feet from a ledge, New Hampshire officials said.")
An injured hiker was rescued by helicopter after his fall from a ledge on a New Hampshire mountain, officials say.
A father called for help for his 18-year-old son, whose leg was injured in a fall on Mount Kilburn in Walpole, just before 6:30 p.m. April 15, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department said in an April 16 news release.
Then, about 10 minutes later, the son called 911, rescuers said.
His phone, however, “died almost immediately” after he placed his 911 call, according to rescuers.
Though conservation officers did not get to speak with the hiker, they managed to get his GPS coordinates, which placed him by the Table Rock Overlook, officials said.
A slew of agencies, including the New Hampshire National Guard, joined conservation officers to search for the hiker, officials said.
Rescuers used a drone and pinpointed the hiker’s location, officials said.
But with “the steepness of the area and the loose rock,” rescuers said it was hard to reach him by foot from higher ground.
Where the hiker was located made a rescue “really difficult — steep, steep cliffs — and rock face that made it more difficult,” Lt. William Boudreau with the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department told WCAX-TV.
Just after 8 p.m., a conservation officer scaled “down steep cliffs” and reached the hiker, who had fallen about 30 feet from a ledge, officials said.
The officer medically assessed the hiker and gave him warm clothing, rescuers said.
With the hiker’s serious injuries and “extremely dangerous terrain,” rescuers said they requested a rescue helicopter to hoist him from the mountain.
The National Guard helicopter crew lowered a medic to the hiker, officials said.
Sgt. Andy Morgan, one of the flight paramedics who treated the hiker on scene said, the hiker’s “leg was twisted up behind him,” according to a New Hampshire National Guard Facebook post.
“He had been there for four hours. His leg was really swollen,” Morgan said. “He was conscious and very stoic.”
Rescuers said they determined “the tree canopy was too thick to safely” hoist the hiker from the area.
Rescuers on the ground then placed the hiker in a litter and “carried him approximately 150 feet to an opening in the tree canopy,” officials said.
Then, the helicopter crew hoisted the hiker from the area and took him to a nearby medical center.
“(The hiker) was prepared for what he was probably planning on doing, but he was not prepared to be stuck out there,” Boudreau told WCAX.
Rescuers urged “hikers to be prepared and to use caution while hiking.”
“Even on a day hike,” officials said, hikers should pack “the 10 essentials,” which includes a “map, compass, warm clothing, extra food and water, headlamp, fire starter, first aid kit, whistle, rain/wind jackets and pants, and a knife.”
Walpole is about an 80-mile drive west from Manchester.
This story was originally published April 18, 2025 at 3:42 PM with the headline "Injured hiker calls 911 after fall from ledge, then phone dies, NH rescuers say."
