Teacher, Students Stranded On N.Y. Hiking Trip Rescued By Rappellers On 200-Foot Cliff

Friday, June 8th 2007, 6:29 pm

By: News On 6

STONY POINT, N.Y. (AP) _ A teacher and three 16-year-old students had to be plucked off a 200-foot-high ledge early Friday after they wandered off a climbing trail, authorities said.

The climbers, on an expedition from a New York City high school, didn't feel they could safely get down on their own, said Lt. David Herrick of the New York State Park Police.

``Basically, they froze and didn't want to move,'' he said.

They were stuck on the rocky outcropping on Bear Mountain about 40 miles north of New York for more than five hours. The hikers used cell phones to call for help, and rescuers arrived about 8:30 p.m. Thursday.

A unit of specially trained volunteer firefighters rappelled the 400-foot cliff halfway down to the rocky ledge, put the four hikers into harnesses and lowered them to the bottom, Herrick said. Helicopters were called in hover nearby and light the scene.

The climbers set out Thursday afternoon on a steep trail behind the Bear Mountain Inn and may not have understood that trails are marked with paint on trees, Herrick said. They eventually left the trail and found themselves on the ledge, which may have been slippery with moss.

``Maybe they could have backtracked and gotten out of there, but from where they were, it looked traumatic,'' he said. ``It's scary.''

The rescue took several hours, but ``by about 1 a.m., they were all down and safe,'' Herrick said. ``Luckily it was warm enough ... and there were no issues with exposure.''

Herrick identified the school as Ha Mesivta High School, but a phone listing could not be found, and calls to schools with similar names did not reach the right institution.