A B.C. woman is in hospital after falling 300 feet down a cliff in mountainous northern backcountry yesterday.

The unidentified hiker was connected to a safety line with three friends at a high elevation about 30-kilometres east of Terrace, where she is believed to have slipped and fell over the edge.

Terrace Search and Rescue vice president Dave Jephson said the woman suffered two broken legs, cuts and other injuries. She is currently at Mills Memorial Hospital awaiting transfer to Vancouver.

鈥淚 just got off the phone with her brother and she鈥檚 lucky 鈥� she鈥檚 stable,鈥� Jephson said.

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SAR received the call for a helicopter evacuation from the group鈥檚 spot device 鈥� an emergency beacon 鈥� around 4 p.m. yesterday.

A SAR team located the woman roughly 300 metres down the cliff face, clinging to a small, steep ledge.

鈥淲e believe she fell about 100 feet, with impact, but we found her about 300 feet from the top of the cliff. She was still on a rope but in a very precarious position in a little crook of the rock.鈥�

Rescuers could not safely reach the woman with a basket due to space and the 75 per cent slope of the ledge, Jephson said.

鈥淭he decision was to have our two rescuers fly in [at the end of the longline].鈥�

Contact was made without incident and all three were lifted to the cliff summit.

鈥淲e met up with her friends and our gear, transferred her over to a spine board, got her onto oxygen, put her inside the helicopter and flew her down to the awaiting ambulance,鈥� Jephson said.

This was the first longline rescue by Terrace SAR since the previous helicopter partner company left the area around 2003. Now connected with Great Slave Helicopters SAR received its long-line rescue certification only last March.

鈥淭he team is elated they were able to put their skills to use and save somebody,鈥� Jephson said. 鈥淲ithout our partnerships, the military would have to come in with a helicopter from [CFB] Comox, and I鈥檓 afraid to think how long that could have taken.鈥�

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