Rescue crews in Maine had to conduct a technical high-angle rope rescue to help a man who became stranded overnight on a Maine mountain last week.
According to officials with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, a telecommunications worker was hiking up to the summit of Soper Mountain in Northwest Piscataquis with two coworkers on Thursday, September 4 when he became separated from the group. They were hiking to a location to work on a communications network on the 1,660-foot mountain.
The man, Chad Wilcox, 51, of Woodstock Valley, Connecticut, became stranded on a ledge wall that had a vertical drop of roughly 200 feet, and he was unable to get down.
His coworkers were able to make voice contact with him, but they were unable to get to him because of the steep terrain.
Wilcox contacted his employer through satellite texts, and game wardens were dispatched to rescue him.
Game Wardens were able to get near Wilcox that evening, but were unable to rescue him because of the steep terrain and technical climbing challenges it presented.
On the morning of Friday, September 5, four game wardens teamed up with eight members of the Maine Association of Search and Rescue Technical Rescue Team (MASAR), who are trained in high angle rope rescues.
The MASAR Team was able to conduct a technical rescue to get to Wilcox and then lower him nearly 200 feet down to where game wardens were stationed.
Wardens then were able to use ATVS to get him back to the road at approximately 12:30p.m. Wilcox was uninjured and did not need medical attention.
