SES crews rescue hiking group after man injures ankle in Stirling Range National Park after staying overnight

A hiking group has been rescued from Stirling Range National Park after spending the night in freezing conditions, with one of their party injured and unable to walk out. The RAC Rescue helicopter was deployed to Ellen Peak on Monday afternoon to rescue a man in his 50s who had injured his ankle while hiking. The Department of Fire and Emergency Services said it received the alert at about 4pm, with the helicopter in the air shortly after to rescue the man in the popular Great Southern tourist spot. A St John WA spokesperson said the man was walking with two female teenagers. Special operations paramedics and Gnowangerup State Emergency Service manager Mandy Hanna were sent to the scene about 11pm on Monday to assess the situation and provide emergency care, but decided the hikers could not safely be brought off the mountain. SES crews from Gnowangerup, Albany, Mt Barker and Nannup were on the scene early on Tuesday morning, and brought the injured man down to safety on a stretcher to be handed to St John WA crews. Gnowangerup SES deputy manager Peter Blows said the hiking group, who were preparing to do the ridge walk, were well-prepared with equipment and were only hindered by the accidental injury. He said the night was “very cold and moist” and it “went south” when one of the young women developed the early stages of hypothermia. Fortunately, crews were able to warm her up so she could walk down on her own — a fact Mr Blows said was very lucky as he did not think there was not enough volunteers to carry down two people. “You always plan for the worst and hope for the best”, he said. “It was a really great team effort, everybody worked well and it was a great rescue. “The young lady that hadn’t hurt herself was able to help the rescuers, being young and fit she was able to bring down their gear because at one stage we thought we’d have to go back up to grab all their things, so hats off to her. “The young lady that suffered hypothermia, once we got her down and warmed her up she was quite chatty.” He said the man was “in good spirits” and that all were warmed up with tea and coffee from the Bluff Knoll Cafe. The stretcher extraction took just under six hours, and the man was taken by ambulance to the Albany Health Campus under normal road conditions for further treatment, arriving at about 11.30am.