ABC15/Facebook An injured 74-year-old woman was airlifted in Arizona Tuesday morning.
An injured hiker was rescued off of Piestewa Peak in Arizona Tuesday morning. According to ABC 15, fire rescue officials rescued the 74-year-old woman and took her to trauma care.
The woman who was taken for evaluation was airlifted using a “screamer suit,” per ABC 15. A “screamer suit” is a device used to airlift people from the ground when a helicopter is involved.
According to Fox 10, Capt. Rob McDade of the Phoenix Fire Department said, “Firefighters made patient contact and decided that the best course of action was to fly the patient off the mountain.”
Although fire officials did manage to airlift the 74-year-old woman safely, it did appear to be a bumpy ride on the way off the mountain.
The video shows that during the rescue there was a large amount of turbulence, as the hike in the “screamer suit” is shown whipping in the wind and spinning quickly under the helicopter.
Neither the identity of the woman nor any information on her injuries have been released at this time.
What is Piestewa Peak?
Piestewa Peak is a summit located northwest of downtown Phoenix. Also known as Squaw Peak, Piestewa Peak is touted as one of the most used trails in the entire United States, with 10,000 hikers making the trek to the peak per week.
Wikimedia CommonsPiestewa Peak
Piestewa is the second highest summit in the Phoenix area, trailing behind Camelback Mountain.
Although the peak elevation isn’t the highest, the acceleration of the elvation makes Piestewa a difficult climb as the ratio of elevation gain is similar to Mt. Hood – the tallest mountain in Oregon.
Summitpost.org categorizes Piestewa peak as an easy hike which can increase from class one to an easy class three depending on how far of a hike the hiker makes it.
Piestewa Peak is apart of the Phoenix Mountains Preserve chain.