STATE OF VERMONT

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY

VERMONT STATE POLICE

NEWS RELEASE

CASE#: 20B301928

STATION: VSP Shaftsbury

CONTACT#: 802-442-5421

DATE/TIME: Shortly after 12 noon on Tuesday, June 16, 2020

INCIDENT LOCATION: Long Trail in Bennington County, VT

INCIDENT: Hiker rescue

SUBJECT: Alden Summers Jones

AGE: 41

CITY, STATE OF RESIDENCE: Bennington, VT

SUMMARY OF INCIDENT:

Multiple rescue crews from Vermont and New York collaborated Tuesday, June 16, 2020, on a complicated, successful rescue of a hiker on the Long Trail in Bennington County, Vermont.

The incident was reported shortly after noon that a 41-year-old man, identified as Alden Summers Jones of Bennington, had suffered a medical event while hiking on the Long Trail in a remote location between Arlington and Sunderland. The precise location was unclear from initial reports, and it took rescue crews several hours to locate the subject. Due to the remote location, the Vermont State Police requested assistance from the New York State Police Aviation Unit in Albany, which dispatched a helicopter along with members of the NYSP and New York State Forest Rangers.

The New York-based crews arrived at about 7 p.m., when a ranger was lowered from the helicopter and secured the individual onto a litter before being hoisted out of the woods and taken to a waiting ambulance. Deerfield Valley Rescue transported the man to the hospital in Bennington, where he was treated and later transported to Albany Medical Center in New York.

Due to the length of the rescue and the distance from the nearest road, several rescuers decided the safest option was to spend the night recuperating in a shelter on the Long Trail about one mile from the incident location. All rescuers were safely out of the woods by 7 a.m. Wednesday, June 17, 2020.

Organizations that participated in the rescue operation included Deerfield Valley Rescue, Rescue Inc., the Vermont Department of Fish & Wildlife, the Vermont State Police, the Wardsboro Fire Department, the Williamstown Fire Department, the New York State Police, and New York State Forest Rangers. The Vermont State Police also received assistance from several licensed amateur radio operators who helped facilitate communications, greatly assisting in the rescue.

Photos attached:

20200617 hiker rescue 01: A hiker is rescued from the Long Trail in Bennington County, Vermont, on Tuesday evening, June 16, 2020. CREDIT: Andy McLean via Vermont State Police

20200617 hiker rescue 02: Crews prepare to rescue a hiker from the Long Trail in Bennington County, Vermont, on Tuesday evening, June 16, 2020. CREDIT: Drew Hazelton via Vermont State Police

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