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The following is an article from the Coos County Democrat. It is posted here with specific permission from the author, Edith M. Tucker. Please do not re-post this article to another site. Thanks.
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01/17/2007 - RANDOLPH — The lives of two-middle-aged hikers who
became disoriented on Wednesday afternoon in whiteout conditions above
treeline while descending Mt. Adams were saved by the combined efforts
of two volunteers from the Randolph Mountain Club and Androscoggin
Valley Search and Rescue (AVSAR) and four state Fish and Game
Department conservation officers.
The search and rescue team located Janis Doubleday, 55, of Hiram, Me.,
and Wayne Rodriguez, 50, of Westfield, Mass., at 12:52 a.m. on
Thursday, huddled together in a sleeping bag that is rated as adequate
to 20-degrees. "It was 14 degrees below zero with winds in the low 70s (m.p.h.)," said Fish and Game Lt. Doug Gralenski.
The two hikers were found below and to the east of Thunderstorm
Junction, where the Gulfside, Lowe's Path, and the Great Gully Trail
intersect at nearly 5,500 feet in elevation.
"It was a life-threatening situation," Lt. Gralenski explained. "They
probably would have survived the night, but we'll never know whether or
not they would have survived the descent down the Great Gully into King
Ravine to the valley below because they would likely have had to deal
with both frostbite and hypothermia."
He said that although there was nothing wrong with the two hikers'
winter gear, they "were over their heads" as far as experience in tough
winter conditions goes. Ms. Doubleday and Mr. Rodriguez had spent Tuesday night at Gray Knob cabin, an enclosed 15-person hut maintained by the Randolph Mountain Club on the side of Mt. Adams at an elevation of nearly 4,370 feet. On Wednesday morning they hiked 1.7 miles up Mt. Adams and had reached the 5,799-foot summit at about 1 p.m. As they started down, the trail became shrouded in blowing snow, however, Lt. Gralenski said.
At 3:30 p.m. the two hikers reached a stone cairn on the trail from
which they could not see how to safely proceed. Mr. Rodriguez called
911 on his cell phone.
In piecing together the sequence of events, Lt. Gralenski said the pair
thought they were on the Lowe's Path, but that they were actually about
a quarter of a mile northeast of Thunderstorm Junction at the top of
the Great Gully. He told them to stay where they were.
Lt. Gralenski said that given the very severe conditions he then
decided to call out members of the Department's search and rescue team:
Brian Abrams; Greg Jellison; Brad Morse, who is also a paramedic; and
Sam Sprague. As he called around for additional help, he learned that Al Sochard of Randolph, who is the volunteer camps chairman for the Randolph Mountain Club, was already dressed in winter gear and readying himself to hike up the Lowe's Path from Lowe's Gas Station on Route 2 to check on the
camp in the absence of the regular winter caretaker and to collect the
$12 overnight each guest is charged.
Longtime AVSAR volunteer Mike Pelchat of Gorham, the manager of the
Mount Washington State Park atop the summit and a former president of
the Randolph Mountain Club who is very familiar with the network of
trails, also volunteered his services. In what Lt. Gralenski described as a "pivotal" decision, he gave the hikers' cell phone number to Mr. Sochard, which ultimately helped him to locate the pair, even though their battery was low. "I talked with Wayne Rodriguez three times, and it was a great comfort to him to know we were on our way," Mr. Sochard said in a Thursday afternoon telephone interview.
When the rescuers found the two hikers in their sleeping bag tucked in
among some boulders, yet still relatively exposed, they first fed them
hot liquid Jello and some food, outfitted them with dry outer jackets
and hats, placed heat warmers in their boots, and then got them back up
on their feet to walk with them to Gray Knob, arriving at nearly 3 a.m.
The two hikers and their six-man rescue crew slept at Gray Knob until
morning and then started at 8:15 a.m. to hike down to the Lowe's Gas
Station.
Mr. Sochard reached the general store and gas station at about 9:45
a.m. and the rest at about 11:30 a.m. Late on the previous afternoon, Lt. Gralenski said he and Lt. Todd Bogardus had set up a command post at the home of Bill and Barbara Arnold on Randolph Hill. Mr. Arnold, a longtime member of both RMC and AVSAR, maintains radio contact between Gray Knob and his house every evening in the winter, and each rescuer carried a radio tuned to the RMC's frequency.
After all the members of the hiking party had reached the safety of
Gray Knob, the two lieutenants headed home and Mr. Arnold also turned
in. "The role played by RMC and AVSAR volunteers who are very familiar with
the local trails in what we think of as 'our' part of the forest,
working with the professional team, provides us all the ability to help
save lives," explained Mr. Sochard. "Mike (Pelchat) and I have a
familiarity with these trails that made it possible for us to figure
out where these two 'lost' hikers were.
-----------------------------------------
01/17/2007 - RANDOLPH — The lives of two-middle-aged hikers who
became disoriented on Wednesday afternoon in whiteout conditions above
treeline while descending Mt. Adams were saved by the combined efforts
of two volunteers from the Randolph Mountain Club and Androscoggin
Valley Search and Rescue (AVSAR) and four state Fish and Game
Department conservation officers.
The search and rescue team located Janis Doubleday, 55, of Hiram, Me.,
and Wayne Rodriguez, 50, of Westfield, Mass., at 12:52 a.m. on
Thursday, huddled together in a sleeping bag that is rated as adequate
to 20-degrees. "It was 14 degrees below zero with winds in the low 70s (m.p.h.)," said Fish and Game Lt. Doug Gralenski.
The two hikers were found below and to the east of Thunderstorm
Junction, where the Gulfside, Lowe's Path, and the Great Gully Trail
intersect at nearly 5,500 feet in elevation.
"It was a life-threatening situation," Lt. Gralenski explained. "They
probably would have survived the night, but we'll never know whether or
not they would have survived the descent down the Great Gully into King
Ravine to the valley below because they would likely have had to deal
with both frostbite and hypothermia."
He said that although there was nothing wrong with the two hikers'
winter gear, they "were over their heads" as far as experience in tough
winter conditions goes. Ms. Doubleday and Mr. Rodriguez had spent Tuesday night at Gray Knob cabin, an enclosed 15-person hut maintained by the Randolph Mountain Club on the side of Mt. Adams at an elevation of nearly 4,370 feet. On Wednesday morning they hiked 1.7 miles up Mt. Adams and had reached the 5,799-foot summit at about 1 p.m. As they started down, the trail became shrouded in blowing snow, however, Lt. Gralenski said.
At 3:30 p.m. the two hikers reached a stone cairn on the trail from
which they could not see how to safely proceed. Mr. Rodriguez called
911 on his cell phone.
In piecing together the sequence of events, Lt. Gralenski said the pair
thought they were on the Lowe's Path, but that they were actually about
a quarter of a mile northeast of Thunderstorm Junction at the top of
the Great Gully. He told them to stay where they were.
Lt. Gralenski said that given the very severe conditions he then
decided to call out members of the Department's search and rescue team:
Brian Abrams; Greg Jellison; Brad Morse, who is also a paramedic; and
Sam Sprague. As he called around for additional help, he learned that Al Sochard of Randolph, who is the volunteer camps chairman for the Randolph Mountain Club, was already dressed in winter gear and readying himself to hike up the Lowe's Path from Lowe's Gas Station on Route 2 to check on the
camp in the absence of the regular winter caretaker and to collect the
$12 overnight each guest is charged.
Longtime AVSAR volunteer Mike Pelchat of Gorham, the manager of the
Mount Washington State Park atop the summit and a former president of
the Randolph Mountain Club who is very familiar with the network of
trails, also volunteered his services. In what Lt. Gralenski described as a "pivotal" decision, he gave the hikers' cell phone number to Mr. Sochard, which ultimately helped him to locate the pair, even though their battery was low. "I talked with Wayne Rodriguez three times, and it was a great comfort to him to know we were on our way," Mr. Sochard said in a Thursday afternoon telephone interview.
When the rescuers found the two hikers in their sleeping bag tucked in
among some boulders, yet still relatively exposed, they first fed them
hot liquid Jello and some food, outfitted them with dry outer jackets
and hats, placed heat warmers in their boots, and then got them back up
on their feet to walk with them to Gray Knob, arriving at nearly 3 a.m.
The two hikers and their six-man rescue crew slept at Gray Knob until
morning and then started at 8:15 a.m. to hike down to the Lowe's Gas
Station.
Mr. Sochard reached the general store and gas station at about 9:45
a.m. and the rest at about 11:30 a.m. Late on the previous afternoon, Lt. Gralenski said he and Lt. Todd Bogardus had set up a command post at the home of Bill and Barbara Arnold on Randolph Hill. Mr. Arnold, a longtime member of both RMC and AVSAR, maintains radio contact between Gray Knob and his house every evening in the winter, and each rescuer carried a radio tuned to the RMC's frequency.
After all the members of the hiking party had reached the safety of
Gray Knob, the two lieutenants headed home and Mr. Arnold also turned
in. "The role played by RMC and AVSAR volunteers who are very familiar with
the local trails in what we think of as 'our' part of the forest,
working with the professional team, provides us all the ability to help
save lives," explained Mr. Sochard. "Mike (Pelchat) and I have a
familiarity with these trails that made it possible for us to figure
out where these two 'lost' hikers were.
