Gaston County EMS Operations Supervisor Tommy Cleary said the woman might have plummeted as far as 50 feet off the trail, and broke bones in both thighs in the fall. He described her injuries as serious but not life-threatening.
Crowders Mountain, a favorite of rock climbers and hikers, has sheer cliff drops along trails.
"There's some pretty dangerous areas all through the park," Cleary said.
Cleary said EMS received an emergency call at 5:25 p.m. Two paramedics and a four-person fire department crew hiked up the 1.7-mile Pinnacle Trail with flashlights and reached the woman about 7 p.m.
The group used ropes to hoist her back to the trail, Cleary said, and the paramedics evaluated her injuries. Shortly after 9 p.m., Cleary said the group brought the injured woman down the other side of the mountain on a backboard, and a helicopter flew her from Kings Mountain to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte. Cleary said the woman was conscious.
Cleary said he could not immediately say how old the woman is, or where she is from.
