Hiker fatality on Mt. Willard

[Ken MacGray]

Very brief WMUR blurb:
https://www.wmur.com/article/hiker-...cliff-at-the-summit-of-mount-willard/42207360

NHFG Facebook post with more detail:
https://www.facebook.com/story.php?...ybxx42BD7SjpPSQYGMhxBBnSXl&id=100064861143641

 

[DayTrip]

Was just reading this on FB. 2022 has not been a good year for accidents.

EDIT: I got to wondering about this and did a quick Google search. I found 8 hiking fatalities in NH for 2002 - 3 falls, 3 heart attack/medical and 2 from exposure. That's a big fatality number for NH isn't it?

 

[srhigham]

Surprised that this type of accident doesnt happen more often. Last time i was there (years ago) there was nothing to stop someone from walking or slipping over the edge. The report has the body recovered from the face of the cliff. There is a ledge about 40 feet down, must have been from there.

 

[DayTrip]

Surprised that this type of accident doesnt happen more often. Last time i was there (years ago) there was nothing to stop someone from walking or slipping over the edge. The report has the body recovered from the face of the cliff. There is a ledge about 40 feet down, must have been from there.

Actually I think the release said it was about 300' down of a possible 800' drop so he was especially unlucky to both slip and have nothing to possibly snare him or break the fall.

 

[richard]

https://www.foxnews.com/us/nh-hiker...-cliff-taking-photos-his-wife-authorities-say

A little more detail.

 

[sierra]

Actually I think the release said it was about 300' down of a possible 800' drop so he was especially unlucky to both slip and have nothing to possibly snare him or break the fall.

I've climbed the face and actually rappelled off the summit into the notorious Devils Den. There are broken ledge systems but it's pretty much vertical to the bottom. There is a 3 ft wide ledge that traverses the face, my guess is that caught him.

 

[Mike P.]

His employer has identified the hiker as he and his wife both worked at the Cog. It is on the Cog's FB page.

 

[CaptCaper]

His employer has identified the hiker as he and his wife both worked at the Cog. It is on the Cog's FB page.

I worked with him at the Cog 18 yrs ago. He was a sweet easy going hard working guy. True in his case. He was deaf and understood totally what you were saying to him. If I had a choice of an engineer to take me up that mountain it would of been him.

 

[JoshandBaron]

His employer has identified the hiker as he and his wife both worked at the Cog. It is on the Cog's FB page.

NH hiker killed in 300-foot fall identified as a Cog Railway engineer

 

[Mike P.]

Was just reading this on FB. 2022 has not been a good year for accidents.

EDIT: I got to wondering about this and did a quick Google search. I found 8 hiking fatalities in NH for 2002 - 3 falls, 3 heart attack/medical and 2 from exposure. That's a big fatality number for NH isn't it?

This weeks storm that may bring a decent snowfall total Thursday and Friday. Saturday Morning's trails should be unbroken until many with snowshoes pack them out, the next 18 days may not be fatality free.

 

[sierra]

Was just reading this on FB. 2022 has not been a good year for accidents.

EDIT: I got to wondering about this and did a quick Google search. I found 8 hiking fatalities in NH for 2002 - 3 falls, 3 heart attack/medical and 2 from exposure. That's a big fatality number for NH isn't it?

Every now and then, 4 or 5 deaths occurs in the Whites in a year. I mentioned this in the 4k group and not many agreed with my assessment. I'm not a research guy, but if someone ran the data for the last 30 years, I'm willing to guess, that at least 5 years had a minimum of 4 deaths, and this does not count medical emergencies which to imo don't count.

 

[Mike P.]

When I was much more active hiking in the Whites in the winter, I would kept track of all the fatalities, downhill skiing, snowmobiling, climbing and hiking. I'm not sure the 4K group is that much into history. The years would seem to rotate on who had more fatalities, some years it would be snowmobilers, some years it was downhill skiing and sometimes hiking or climbing. I forget where I counted backcountry skiing. Certainly in 1994 on Washington alone when Derek Tinkham, Cheryl W. and I believe (If I have my history right) a couple of climbers who died after topping out in storm above Huntington and another in Tuckerman plus a cardiac arrest. As us old people know, there has been one or two on Franconia Ridge seemingly annually as people assume if it's not Mt. Washington, it must not be as dangerous. (Five in 1996 and 2002 on the Presidentials. Four in 2013.)

We know there have been multiple Lafayette and Little Haystack recoveries, a South Twin recovery and a Webster Slide accident and I'm sure I'm missing a bunch.

 

[nartreb]

For the Presidential Range, the AMC keeps or used to keep a list. (The state park service also keeps one just for Mt Washington, I believe.) The Wikipedia version of that list is here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_who_died_on_the_Presidential_Range

It shows 6 deaths in 1996, 5 in 2002, 4 in 2013, and 4 in 2019.
I get an average of 2 deaths a year in the Presidentials since the year 2000, so 2022 has been "busier" than average (3 deaths so far) but well within normal variation.

 

[Salty]

Condolences to family and friends. Very sad to hear.

 

[peakbagger]

A raw list like this is pretty useless unless its tied to usage. I dont think any agency really keep good track of overall usage in the WMNF. The stats that are really important is if number of accidents/deaths is going up at steeper rate than usage. Although any death impact family and friends my guess is the current fatality rate is such a small percentage of usage that its almost noise.

BTW if you ever see the infamous deaths on Mt Washington List, its definition of Mt Washington is any death occurring inside a rough box bounded by RT 16 on the East, RT 115 and RT 302 to the West and south and RT 2 to the north. Someone having a heart attack on the autoroad counts as well as other natural causes.

 

[sierra]

A raw list like this is pretty useless unless its tied to usage. I dont think any agency really keep good track of overall usage in the WMNF. The stats that are really important is if number of accidents/deaths is going up at steeper rate than usage. Although any death impact family and friends my guess is the current fatality rate is such a small percentage of usage that its almost noise.

I went through the list, usage is clearly listed with each fatality.

 

[peakbagger]

My reference to usage is the number of visitors to the WMNF relative to the number of accidents, unless you have seen a database I have not, I am not aware of any entity that attempts to document backcountry usage or overall usage on a long term basis.

 

[Mike P.]

My reference to usage is the number of visitors to the WMNF relative to the number of accidents, unless you have seen a database I have not, I am not aware of any entity that attempts to document backcountry usage or overall usage on a long term basis.

Since you don't track hikers and climbers you can't come up with a percentage of accidents to users or fatalities to users. You'd have to pull ski-resorts financial data apart to see if they list ticket sales. Does NH require a license for snowmobiles? Is F&G reports archived? Deaths on the Presidentials are tracked but not elsewhere. Us old-timers have seen more than a handful on Lafayette, either where they were found or where the wind drove them off the ridge and into the Pemi in an attempt to get out of the wind. Others have passed in other areas also. Ken Holmes, the Monadnock ranger passed near South Twin. (If State numbers are counted, a few have passed on Monadnock also.

Thankfully not a fatality, we've had one of our own seriously injured on the Livermore Trail & another perish years ago when he went out to climb Shasta. Few downhill skiers get lost, in the east, just those at places with glades. Out West, with more back country opportunities it happens more often. A hiker that learns a lesson about lights but manages to get out on their own isn't an accident, if F&G are called and bring them lights and clothes and food, does that count? Me falling on Belknap and getting scraped and possibly spraining a thumb doesn't count as it wasn't reported. (Except here and now.) If you fall and limp out of a downhill resort bloodied, my guess is a member of Ski Patrol will ask the skier walking downhill carrying a broken ski to stop by and see First Aid.

We also don't have actual numbers on what Covid-19 did to the numbers or new hikers. When no one could go indoors, we believe based on parking and their social media feeds mostly, many new people came outside. Likewise, what appears to be less snowfall, a shorter season mostly, (either in southern NH where you might pick up the long distance snowmobile trails or in population centers so if it's green in CT or Boston, winter sport conditions must also be bad) in some places seems to have lowered the number of people snowmobiling.

 

[NHClimber]

You need an annual registration to snowmobile. It’s handled through the NH OHRV registration portal. Same as for ATVs.

 

[Mike P.]

You need an annual registration to snowmobile. It’s handled through the NH OHRV registration portal. Same as for ATVs.

So you can track those who buy but not how many use it 0 x a year or 100 x a year.