HIGHLAND FALLS, N.Y., Feb. 20 (UPI) -- Two West Point cadets were plucked to safety from a narrow mountain ledge in New York in a pre-dawn helicopter rescue Sunday, police said.
The pilot, New York police officer Steven Browning, told The New York Times the mission to retrieve the cadets, whose names weren't released, from an 18-inch-wide ledge on Storm King Mountain in the dark with strong winds tested his skills.
"This hopefully was once in a career," Browning said. "We were at our absolute limit."
A U.S. Military Academy spokeswoman said the freshmen cadets had decided to "conduct rappelling on their own," only to find themselves trapped on the ledge for about 8 hours in temperatures in the 20s before their rescue, the Times said. They used their cellphones to call for help.
They were suffering from hypothermia but were alert and otherwise in good shape, the rescue crew said.
