Main trails. The Winona bluffs are criss-crossed with hiking trails, some of which double for cross-country skiing in winter. In red are major hiking trails in the Sugar Loaf area. Trails in this area are rigorous climbs.
Hiker carried down with C-collar, longboard, basket
WINONA, Minn. – Firefighters used a 300-foot rope Sunday to lower an injured hiker in a basket off a trail leading up to the Sugar Loaf crag on a blufftop overlooking Winona. Details on the rescue were included in the Fire Department’s weekly incident summary. The sequence beginning about 2:40 p.m.:
> Firefighters were dispatched to Sugar Loaf for a hiker who had fallen from one of many hiking trails in front of the rock.
> The hiker’s location was unknown.
> All off-duty personnel were paged to report to the scene.
> Personnel assembled gear and began up the primary walking trail to the base of Sugar Loaf.
> Firefighter were met 400 yards up the trail by hikers who said that the injured hiker was closer to the bottom of the bluff and they could lead the way.
> Firefighters reached the injured hiker and took the hikers’s vital signs, began triage, and assessed the situation.
> The hiker was “packaged” using a C-collar, a longboard, and a stokes basket.
> An anchor was placed 40 feet up the hill.
> A 300-foot rope was attached to the stokes basket to help control the decent down the hill.
> Firefighters used chainsaw to cut small limbs and brush from the path down to the walking trail.
> The hiker was carried in the stokes basket down to a walking path.
> A second anchor was placed two-thirds of the way down the hill.
> The stokes basket was transferred onto a second rope at the second anchor.
> Firefighters rotated as needed to carry the basket down the trail and stairs to an ambulance cot.
Winona’s signature landmark. Created by quarrying in the 1800s. The pinnacle itself is 85 feet straight up.