Gardiner , New York – Any injured climber on the Mohonk Preserve will be rushed off to treatment even more quickly than before, thanks to a new rescue wheel donated this month by the Gunks Climbers' Coalition (GCC). The wheel clamps to the top rail of a rescue litter so that it can be wheeled instead of carried, speeding up response time.
“This is a critical tool in search-and-rescue for our Rangers,” said Hank Alicandri, the Preserve's Head Ranger and Director of Stewardship. “The litter wheel will allow us to more safely and quickly move injured visitors who are a long distance from trailheads,” he continued. “This will be especially important for the most seriously injured,” he noted.
Reputed to be the best trained in the Northeast, the Preserve's vertical rescue team responds to about 45 climber accidents annually. “The Preserve relies heavily on the support of its visitors and members to cover the cost of our rescue program, which are not underwritten by any local, state, or federal funding,” said Alicandri.
An advocacy group for rock climbers in the Shawangunks, the community-minded GCC has found a number of ways over the past several years to support the Preserve's search-and-rescue program.
“This year's donation was made possible through our ongoing Rescue Fund,” said Christopher Spatz, GCC Director-at-Large. “The Fund was established in 2004 when a long-time climber, Dennis Yonkin, was rescued from a serious fall on the Preserve,” continued Spatz. “Yonkin offered half the money towards a lightweight, titanium litter to contribute to the Preserve's rescue equipment, and challenged the GCC and the climbing community to raise the rest.”
“With continuing fundraising events, we were able to grow the Rescue Fund,” said Spatz. “This made it possible for us to donate $1,000 each to the Preserve and the Gardiner Fire Department Rescue Squad in 2005,” he said. The Preserve used the 2005 donation for advanced rescue training for some of their Rangers.
“At the request of the Preserve and the DEC, we'll be funding soon the tech support necessary to get all of the search-and-rescue teams' radios on the same channel,” noted Spatz. “This will help coordinate rescue response, ridge-wide,” he explained.
The majority of the 1,000 climbing routes in the Gunks are located on the Mohonk Preserve. Today, the Gunks are internationally renowned as a world-class climbing area, offering some of the best climbing in the eastern U.S. and receiving about 50,000 climber visits a year.
For more about climbing on the Preserve, see www.mohonkpreserve.org/index.php?climb . To donate to the GCC rescue fund, see www.gunksclimbers.org/rescuefund.shtml
