CAMDEN — It was an arduous rescue, but slowly and carefully, teams of rock climbers and firefighters/EMTs lowered and carried a woman with possible broken ankles off the cliffs overlooking Megunticook Lake Saturday evening.

The woman, 24, had been taking a rock climbing lesson with her boyfriend on the cliffs above Barrett's Cove, a popular training section of Megunticook when she fell about one third from the top of the cliff.

A call for help was made soon after 4:15 p.m., June 21, from the climbing area, and Camden Fire and Rescue responded with manpower and first aid equipment. In turn, Fire Chief Chris Farley called for assistance from Coastal Mountains Search and Rescue (CMSAR) volunteers, with their climbing gear, to manage a high angle retrieval.

The woman had landed on a fairly flat piece of ledge, and to reach her, CMSAR team members climbed above her position and then belayed down to the perch.

From there, they loaded the woman onto a carrier and slowly lowered her down to the bottom of the cliff, where members of Camden Fire and Rescue then picked her up and carefully negotiated a boulder-strewn trail down the mountain to a waiting North East Mobile Health Services ambulance.

It was just getting dark by the time the firefighters loaded the woman into the back of the ambulance, where she was treated and then transported to Pen Bay Hospital in Rockport.

Reach Editorial Director Lynda Clancy at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6657