Stuck climbers were dangling 600 feet up mountain wall in the dark, NC rescuers say
Two climbers found themselves trapped hundreds of feet up a mountain wall after sunset, and it took a drone with thermal imaging to find them in the dark, according to rescuers in western North Carolina. The call for help came around 7:25 Friday, after the climbers reported being “stranded on the sheer rock face of Whiteside Mountain,” Glenville-Cashiers Rescue Squad wrote in a Nov. 7 Facebook post. The mountain is “a landmark along the Eastern Continental Divide,” towering 4,930 feet over Nantahala National Forest, U.S. Forest Service says. “Using a drone equipped with thermal imaging and night-vision capabilities, our rescuers located the two climbers approximately 600 feet above the base of the mountain’s nearly vertical 1,000-foot rock face,” the squad said. “The climbers had been employing unconventional climbing techniques and had encountered significant technical failures involving their limited climbing gear. These difficulties were further compounded by hazardous climbing conditions resulting from recent heavy rainfall.” A High Angle Rescue Team climbed down to reach the climbers, secured them with a technical rope rescue system, then pulled them to the summit, officials said. One climber had to be pulled 230 feet up, and the other was pulled 350 feet, according to Highlands
