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State Police and other rescue team members hiked through two feet of snow during Tuesday's Nor'easter to rescue to stranded men.

Hikers Rescued From Mount Washington During Snowstorm

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MOUNT WASHINGTON, Mass. — Searchers struggled through more than 2 feet of snow on Tuesday to rescue two hikers lost in Mount Washington State Forest during one of the most powerful Nor'easters in years. 
 
According to State Police, two men, ages 47 and 53, had entered the forest on the Alander Trail and headed for a cabin on the mountain peak but became stranded when they could no longer see the trail markings and darkness was falling. More than a foot of snow had fallen across the region by Tuesday afternoon. 
 
State Police at the Lee barracks were alerted at 7:48 p.m. when one of the hikers was able to call 911 and reached the Berkshire County Sheriff's Dispatch Center.
 
The caller told State Police they could not retrace their steps back out of the forest because heavy falling snow had filled in their tracks. They estimated that they were approximately two miles into the forest.
 
Troopers and emergency dispatchers told the hikers to stay where they were while they began assembling a search and rescue team equipped with snowmobiles. While dispatchers and state Department of Conservation and Recreation personnel worked to obtain and plot the exact coordinates of the hikers’ location, troopers from various State Police units, Egremont and Sheffield firefighters, state Environmental Police, and DCR Rangers responded to a command post at the Egremont Fire Department on Route 23.  
 
Meanwhile, in order to get snowmobiles to the search team that would deploy from the command post to the state forest, first responders had to clear roads between the command post and the entrance to the forest trail. Those roads were blocked by trees and power lines knocked down by the storm. 
 
Shortly before 9, a Troop B patrol supervisor, Egremont Department of Public Works personnel, and the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency began notifying public works crews, snowplows, and the utility company to respond to assist in that part of the mission. By 11:15 p.m., National Grid employees had shut power to downed lines so the road to the trail entrances could be cleared.
 
A short time later, a six-person search and rescue team on snowmobiles — consisting of two troopers from the Special Emergency Response Team, three Sheffield firefighters, and a DCR Ranger — departed from the command post for the trail entrance at the edge of the forest. 
 
Because of 2-foot-deep snow, however, the snowmobiles were unable to drive onto the trail. Shortly after midnight, the rescue team began a two-mile walk into the forest to the hikers' coordinates.
 
It took them 2 1/2 hours to find the hikers. The two men were suffering from fatigue and cold temperatures but were not injured. The group of eight then began the hike back out of the forest.
 
More than two hours later, at 4:48 a.m. on Wednesday morning, the group reached the DCR headquarters building near the trail entrance. Southern Berkshire Ambulance personnel examined the hikers and transported them to an area hospital for evaluation due to their fatigue and cold weather exposure.
 
Troopers from the Lee barracks and a State Police K9 team also assisted in the response. All units were cleared from the command post by 6:20 a.m. Authorities did not identify the two men. 

Tags: search & rescue,   

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Simon's Rock Awarded Freedom to Read Grant

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — Bard College at Simon's Rock was awarded a Freedom to Read Grant by the Newburger Schwartz Family Foundation. 
 
The grant was awarded to support the Alumni Library and Bard Queer Leadership Project in building a more robust collection of queer scholarship, starting a Queer Book Club, and hosting Drag Story Time events in partnership with Drag Story Hour of the Berkshires.
 
According to a press release:
 
In response to current educational threats with book bans affecting schools and libraries across the country and further proposed legislation against LGBTQ+ people's access to basic rights and education, Simon's Rock is actively seeking to create inclusive and equitable spaces for queer individuals. 
 
The Bard Queer Leadership Project and Alumni Library will utilize the grant funding to expand the library's current collection of queer books in order to fully enable the longevity of the Queer Book Club and the Bard Queer Leadership Project. The Queer Book Club will be an intergenerational space, open to local middle school students through rainbow seniors and will partner with local community organizations, to discuss queer books and learn about LGBTQ+ issues and experiences. Bard Queer Leadership Project students will eventually help lead this initiative as part of their leadership project training. 
 
The Queer Book Club will host their first meeting on April 6 at 3:00 p.m. at the Alumni Library, with following meetings on April 27 and May 11. This semester, the selected books are "Obie is Man Enough" and "He/She/They," both by Schuyler Bailar, inspirational speaker and first openly transgender NCAA Division swimmer, who was a guest speaker in the inaugural Queer Leaders Vision Forum in fall 2023 at Simon's Rock. Schuyler Bailar will return to campus for a book signing and pool party at the Kilpatrick Athletic Center on April 19 at 7:00 p.m. Participants in the Queer Book Club will receive a free copy of either book of their choice. 
 
The first Drag Story Time will be on Saturday, March 30 at 2:00 p.m. at the Simon's Rock Alumni Library and is open to all LGBTQ+ affirming individuals. The event is in partnership with Drag Story Hour of the Berkshires with local drag queens JV and Poppy DaBubbly. The second Drag Story Time will be Saturday, April 27 with drag queen Poppy DaBubbly and drag king Sativo Green.
 
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