The Montana Army National Guard’s 1-189th General Support Aviation Battalion members rescued a hiker Aug. 9 from Old Scraggy Peak in the Little Rockies.

A man had fallen off a cliff north of Zortman, suffering severe injuries and local authorities were unable to reach him so they requested help from the Guard.

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A Black Hawk helicopter piloted by Cpt. Otis Smith and CW3 Tom Kinyon responded with Sgt. Ian Montgomery and Sgt. First Class Anthony Wright on board and flight medic Sgt. Randy Scales, according to the Army.

Using night-vision goggles, the crew arrived on scene at 11 p.m. where ground crews signaled the helicopter, directing the crew to Old Scraggy Peak, according to the Army.

Scales was hoisted down 130 feet in the dark mountain conditions, where he secured and stabilized the patient in a stretcher. The injured man was safely rescued into the aircraft and flown to Billings, where fire and ambulance crews met the aircraft and transported the patient to the hospital.

“It’s great to be able to do something for the state that you train for all the time,” Smith said in an Army release. “I think it’s incredibly important that we work alongside all the National Guardsmen in the state and the civilians as well. All those entities being able to work together is pretty incredible. We have this capability…that can cover the wideness of the state at a moment’s notice. No matter what happens, wherever they are, we can most likely get them out and get them to a safe place.”

*Photo by Montana Army National Guard