Trail spill sends hiker to hospital
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Killington Fire Chief Steve Finer (left) checks on the condition of a hiker who the Killington Fire Department and Rutland Regional Ambulance Service crew rescued in Killington on Thursday. Vyto Starinskas / Rutland Herald |
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By Cristina Kumka STAFF WRITER - Published: July 10, 2009
KILLINGTON — An Indiana woman in town on a healthy-living retreat took a harrowing spill on the Appalachian Trail Thursday morning, sending locals to her rescue and landing her in the hospital for treatment.
Early Thursday afternoon, 41-year-old Hope Dusza was led into an examination at Rutland Regional Medical Center for X-rays after she complained of pain in the center of her back, right wrist and right ankle.
She was one of 11 hikers scaling up a section of the trail at about 10:30 a.m. when she slipped and tumbled 40 feet into Thundering Brook, according to hike leader Marija Hongisto.
Dusza was treated and released later in the day, according to the hospital.
"It could have been anyone," Hongisto said in the hospital's cafeteria as Dusza was being treated.
Hongisto is a hiker from Macedonia employed by the New Life Hiking Spa run out of the Inn of the Six Mountains in Killington.
The group's four-mile hike started early Thursday near the Mountain Meadows Lodge and toward Thundering Brook Falls, otherwise known as Bakers Falls.
About halfway into the hike, Hongisto said Dusza, who was in good shape, slipped on the muddy trail and tumbled with her arms wrapped around her head down a wooded hill.
According to Chief Steve Finer of the Sherburne Volunteer Fire Department, 10 rescuers including a photographer had to pull Dusza with ropes from Thundering Brook below the trail when she landed.
There was no further injury to rescuers or Dusza.
"That's key," Finer said.
The hikers were on the trail as part of their retreat to the weight-loss spa — learning to make healthier food choices and become more physically active and mentally strong, according to Hongisto.
From her hotel room later Thursday, Dusza confirmed she didn't suffer any serious injury or break any bones.
cristina.kumka@rutlandherald.com
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