Great Smoky Mountains hiker rescued from waist-deep snow by helicopter
GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK - A 28-year-old San Diego man who became disoriented and lost in deep snow along the Appalachian Trail was rescued by helicopter Jan. 18.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park issued a press release Jan. 19 about the incident, in which Andrew Burtzloff, 28, who was showing symptoms of hypothermia, was rescued.
The rescue is the second related to the heavy snowstorm that blanketed Western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee with more than a foot of snow in places, including 18 inches in the park's highest elevations. On Jan. 16, the Haywood County Search and Rescue team assisted a stranded hiker near the Shining Rock Wilderness, after the man got caught in the storm and made a cell phone call for help.
In Burtzloff's incident, the park received assistance from the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency and the Tennessee Army National Guard, which provided a UH60 Blackhawk helicopter.
The release states that about 8:20 a.m. on Jan. 18, "the park’s Emergency Communications Center received notification that Andrew Burtzloff, a 28-year-old male hiker from San Diego, California, had become disoriented and lost while hiking along the Appalachian Trail due to heavy snow."
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National Guard emergency responders "conducted a complex rescue operation by evacuating the injured hiker from his off-trail location and transporting him to the University of Tennessee Medical Center for treatment," the release states.
Location data from the hiker's cell phone played a key role in the rescue.
"The data indicated that he was well off trail, in a ravine, and deep within the park’s backcountry near Gregory Bald," the release states. "Burtzloff reported being wet, cold, and had signs and symptoms of hypothermia."
Reaching him by ground could have taken six to eight hours, so the park requested assistance from both Tennessee Emergency Management and the National Guard.
At 10 a.m., the National Guard's medical helicopter left its flight facility at McGhee Tyson Airport, reaching the search location at 10:15 a.m.
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"After a brief search by air, the crew located the stranded hiker in waist-deep snow," the release states. "Unable to land due to trees and terrain, the air crew lowered two medics to the hiker."
The medics evaluated Burtzloff on the ground. Then the chopper hoisted all three safely aboard the hovering aircraft and flew to UT Medical Center, arriving at 11:20 a.m., so Burtzloff could receive further treatment, according to the release.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which comprises 522,427 acres spanning the rugged terrain of eastern Tennessee and Western North Carolina, has held the position as most-visited national park since 1944. In 2020, it had 12.1 million visitors, a 3% dip behind its record-setting year in 2019 of 12.5 million people.
The snowstorm dumped 12-18 inches of snow at the highest elevations from Jan. 14-17.
In the Haywood County rescue, the hiker, whose name was not released, had apparently planned to hike and camp along the popular Art Loeb Trail. As conditions worsened, he called for assistance in getting back, "fearing that the weather conditions were more than he was prepared to handle," according to a press release from Haywood County Emergency Services.
Those rescuers had to deal with treacherous road conditions on the Blue Ridge Parkway, with less than 100 feet of visibility amid a wintry mix of sleet and snow. Leaving from the Black Balsam trailhead, they utilized snowshoes and heavy winter gear to hike to the stranded man.
"The hiker was in good spirits, despite the long night he just endured and was able to walk out on his own power alongside the team of rescuers," the press release states.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Hiker rescued from Great Smoky Mountains after snowstorm blanketed WNC
