UNALASKA — Officials say a hiker has been rescued after he became stranded 100 feet up a cliff face Sunday evening in Unalaska.
Fire chief Zac Schasteen said the 27-year-old man had been hiking with a friend in the Aleutian community when he decided to avoid a trail and descend the cliff face instead. The man, who had been wearing rain boots and rain gear, became stuck about a quarter of the way down, The Alaska Dispatch News reported.
He was “definitely not equipped for … descending a cliff,” Schasteen said.
The man’s friend had followed the trail along Ulakta Drive and made it down to his boat, where he called for help.
Police and Unalaska emergency personnel arrived to find the hiker, who was sitting down and facing out toward the road below.
“He wasn’t, like, holding on for dear life but he was in a very precarious spot,” Schasteen said.
A firefighter rappelled down to the man and secured him with an extra harness system and line. The two men went down the cliff face together and made it safely on the ground around 7 p.m.
The hiker was cold, but otherwise uninjured, Schasteen said.
The community of Unalaska in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands has about 4,400 residents. The town has conducted similar rescue efforts at other cliffs in the area, but the rescue at this particular location along Ulakta Drive was its first.
