BERLIN - A man climbing alone on Ragged Mountain fell 40 feet Friday evening, causing head and abdomen injuries, but dialed for help and brought on a tricky and potentially dangerous rescue operation.

About 25 firefighters and other rescue workers brought the unidentified 26-year-old a mile down the mountain as night darkened.

The climber, bleeding from the head, called 911 at about 6:30 p.m., an official said, and Life Star helicopter took off at about 9:21 p.m. to bear the man to Hartford Hospital.

Bringing him down the mountain took about an hour to an hour and a half, said Brian Chapman, assistant chief with the South Kensington Fire House.

The operation called for all the rescue equipment carried on Berlin and Rocky Hill rescue units. Four-wheel all-terrain vehicles were also used before night fell.

But the terrain didn’t make it easy for Life Star to find a place to land. While the climber was said to have fallen from a small cliff behind 105 Sanctuary Road, the helicopter could find safe landing only in a field across from a Harts Ponds pump house on Reservoir Road - a second choice after an earlier one proved too dangerous, and still a half-mile from the trail head.

In a further hint of the dangers of the rescue, afterward a Berlin rescue worker came limping up West Lane to where a command post had been set up. His ankle was taped, suggesting the winding trails on the mountain had snared another victim.

The name of the fall victim was withheld until family could be told of the incident.

By MARC LEVY, Herald staff

08/23/2008