LOCALadk Magazine

40 Spring 2015 LOCALadk Magazine Adirondack Avengers By Bethany Garretson Photos by Scott Mierop The view descending from Seward Mountain is magnificent. Deep in the Adirondack backcountry, on a blue bird Autumn day, the triangular peak of Whiteface breaks atop the valley of hardwood forests. Your trekking poles click on the bare granite slides. The terrain's slick and before you know it, you're falling. Unable to self-arrest, you pick up speed and slam into a boulder. A sharp pain radiates from your rib cage. Every breath is painful. You call out for help, but the only response you get is the song of a hermit thrush. Nauseous fear sets in. You're alone. You're hurt. What was heaven has now become hell. You fish out your cell phone and place a call to DEC headquarters. Six miles in on High Peak/ herd path terrain, a carry out will take hours. You hear the helicopter before you see it. A rescuer and litter are lowered. Hunched in pain, protecting your midsection, you're unable to lay back on the littler without dry heaving. The rescuer radios to the hoist operator, "We need Chuck." Chuck Pandolph, a paramedic with North Country Life Flight is lowered. He makes an assessment and administers medicine. He's a nice guy and speaks in a cheery voice above the whirl of the hovering Bell 430 helicopter. You have a collapsed lung and broken ribs, but you're okay. Pain somewhat eased, you're strapped in a harness and hoisted. The view is unlike anything you've ever experienced. Above you is a daunting mass of machinery with riptides of rotor wash crashing into the balsams below. The hoist operator, Jeff Balerno, pulls you in. You're safe. The crew is all part of your rescue mission: a New York State police pilot, DEC Forest Ranger and North Country Life Flight Paramedic. An out of body experience—it's the closest you'll get to super heroes. Meet the Avengers of the Adirondacks.

• Cover