Boy conscious and speaking after 25-foot fall in Weathersfield

First responders carry a 12-year-old boy off the Weathersfield Trail on Mount Ascutney in Weathersfield, Vt., on Friday, July 12, 2024. At around 2 p.m. dispatchers received a call that a boy had fallen 25 to 30 feet off a rock near Little Cascade Falls on the Weathersfield Trail up Mount Ascutney and had a head laceration. (Valley News - James M. Patterson) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com. valley news photographs — James M. Patterson

A boy who fell from a rock on the Weathersfield Trail on Mount Ascutney in Weathersfield, Vt, is conscious and speaking with emergency responders as they load him onto an ambulance at the trailhead on Friday, July 12, 2024. Calls from dispatchers said the boy had a head laceration and broken clavical and the Ascutney Fire Department responded with assistance from West Weathersfield Volunteer Fire Department, Claremont Fire Department, Golden Cross ambulance, Vermont State Game Wardens and DHART. (Valley News - James M. Patterson) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.

West Weathersfield Fire Chief Josh Dauphin, left, an unidentified firefighter, middle, and Deputy Chief Michael Spaulding, right, watch as DHART departs from a Gravelin Road field carrying a 12-year-old boy who was injured in a fall from a rock on the Weathersfield Trail on Mount Ascutney in Weathersfield, Vt., on July 15, 2024. The boy was conscious and talking with emergency personel as they transported him off the mountain and to the nearby field. (Valley News - James M. Patterson) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.

Staff Report

Published: 07-15-2024 6:31 PM

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WEATHERSFIELD — A youth with a summer camp group hiking on Mount Ascutney fell off a cliff near Little Cascade Falls and landed 25 feet below in a gorge, sustaining a head injury that led to him being transported to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center for treatment Friday afternoon, according to Vermont Fish and Game.

First responders at the scene, located about a half mile up the Weathersfield Trail, “provided to the juvenile’s head and extremity injuries” and requested the DHART helicopter for expedited transportation to a higher level of care,” a spokesman with Vermont Fish and Game said via email in response to an inquiry by the Valley News on Monday.

The youth, who was not identified by officials because he is a minor, suffered a head laceration down to the skull and broken clavicle, according to emergency radio transmissions on Friday afternoon.

Radio transmissions reported the youth’s age as 12 years old but a warden with Vermont Fish and Game said the youth — who was conscious and talking — informed him he was 13 years old.

Fire department rescue personnel from Ascutney, West Weathersfield and Claremont along with Weathersfield police and wardens from Vermont Fish and Game all responded to the scene. Dispatch received the call at around 2 p.m.

Golden Cross Ambulance out of Claremont transported the injured youth from the Weathersfield Trail trailhead to Gravelin Road, from where DHART flew him to DHMC.

Information regarding the camping group, how many were in it and where it was from was not made public by officials.

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