GILFORD – A 70-year-old woman and a Gunstock Mountain Resort employee were seriously injured when they fell 30 feet from a viewing platform at the top of Gunstock Mountain Tuesday.

Both victims, whose names were not released, were flown by DHART helicopter to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon because their injuries were so severe, said Gilford Fire-Rescue Capt. Mike Balcom.

“They had gone to the top via the chairlift, she was a guest of the resort and the male was an employee,” Balcom said. “For some reason, they fell.”

Rescue crews were called to the resort at 10:29 a.m., where they were informed by resort rescue teams that two people had fallen approximately 30 feet down an embankment from the platform at the top of the resort's Panorama life, Balcom said.

Gunstock and Gilford rescue teams were forced to use all-terrain vehicles to get the mountain's top, he said. When they arrived, they found the male patient had serious head wounds, and the female had various wounds thought to be less serious, he said.

“At first her injuries were not as apparent as his were,” he said.

The helicopter landed at the top of the mountain and airlifted the male patient for treatment, while the woman was taken by ATV down the mountain and then taken to Lakes Region General Hospital in Laconia.

“DHART was able to land at the summit of Gunstock, which greatly reduced the amount of time needed for the patient to be transported to the helicopter,” he said.

Once at the hospital, it was determined that the female victim's injuries were so serious that she, too, needed to be taken to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, so the helicopter was called back, Balcom said.

No details on the conditions of the patients were available.

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