Firefighters used high-angle rope techniques to get down a 100-foot shoreline cliff in heavy rain and darkness early today to rescue two opihi pickers, one clinging halfway up the cliff in Laupahoehoe on Hawaii island.
No one was seriously injured in the treacherous operation on the Hamakua Coast, officials said.
The two men had climbed down a steep, 100-foot embankment in the Waipunalei area and then used ropes themselves to scale down the vertical cliff below in their quest for opihi, according to a Hawaii County Fire Department press release. The call for help came in at 12:51 a.m. and firefighters were on the scene by 1 a.m. Rescuers used high-angle rope techniques, which include pulleys, harnesses and belay devices, to get to the men and hoist them up.