Waumbek
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From this week's Coos County Democrat:
[start quote]Ice climber injured in Huntington Ravine
by Edith Tucker
01/25/2006 - MOUNT WASHINGTON — A Canadian ice climber attempting a glissade — a slide down packed snow or ice controlled by an ice axe — below the Central Gully in the lower end of Huntington Ravine was injured on Sunday morning, according to rescuers who were in the weather station at the Mount Washington Observatory on Monday during the governor's visit (see related article).
When he lost control and slid from snow onto a patch of ice, the climber cascaded about 40 feet, banging head-first into a boulder.
His chest and other parts of his body were bruised in the tumble, and he was badly shaken up and believed he might have broken some bones.
Fortunately, the man was wearing a helmet, which, said Mount Washington State Park manager Mike Pelchat of Gorham, probably saved his life.
The lead agency in the rescue was the U. S. Forest Service with snow ranger Justin Preisenforfer taking charge. The USFS is in charge of wintertime rescues in both Huntington and Tuckerman Ravines on the east side of Mount Washington.
A crew of about a dozen Mountain Rescue Service members as well as Androscoggin Search and Rescue members turned out to aid in the rescue. Seven Lyndon State (Vt.) College students who were learning mountaineering skills also assisted. The college students saw the accident and called it in by cell phone.
The injured man had to be roped down in a technical rescue and then was carried out in a litter to the Sherburne Trail, where the rescue party was met by a sno-cat. At a couple of locations, the litter had to be taken out of the sno-cat to be roped down steep and icy pitches.
After a rescue which took some hours, the Gorham Ambulance transported the man, who was accompanied by a woman, to the Androscoggin Valley Hospital in Berlin.
According to a statement made on Tuesday by White Mountain National Forest public affairs spokesman Pat Nasta, the USFS's internal policy is to ask victims "as a matter of courtesy" for permission to release their names before reporting them to the press.
Assistant District Ranger Dave Neeley had refused to release the injured man's name on Monday afternoon on the basis of federal privacy rules that apply to medical personnel and in medical settings.
The injured man's condition could not be ascertained without his full name. [end quote]
[start quote]Ice climber injured in Huntington Ravine
by Edith Tucker
01/25/2006 - MOUNT WASHINGTON — A Canadian ice climber attempting a glissade — a slide down packed snow or ice controlled by an ice axe — below the Central Gully in the lower end of Huntington Ravine was injured on Sunday morning, according to rescuers who were in the weather station at the Mount Washington Observatory on Monday during the governor's visit (see related article).
When he lost control and slid from snow onto a patch of ice, the climber cascaded about 40 feet, banging head-first into a boulder.
His chest and other parts of his body were bruised in the tumble, and he was badly shaken up and believed he might have broken some bones.
Fortunately, the man was wearing a helmet, which, said Mount Washington State Park manager Mike Pelchat of Gorham, probably saved his life.
The lead agency in the rescue was the U. S. Forest Service with snow ranger Justin Preisenforfer taking charge. The USFS is in charge of wintertime rescues in both Huntington and Tuckerman Ravines on the east side of Mount Washington.
A crew of about a dozen Mountain Rescue Service members as well as Androscoggin Search and Rescue members turned out to aid in the rescue. Seven Lyndon State (Vt.) College students who were learning mountaineering skills also assisted. The college students saw the accident and called it in by cell phone.
The injured man had to be roped down in a technical rescue and then was carried out in a litter to the Sherburne Trail, where the rescue party was met by a sno-cat. At a couple of locations, the litter had to be taken out of the sno-cat to be roped down steep and icy pitches.
After a rescue which took some hours, the Gorham Ambulance transported the man, who was accompanied by a woman, to the Androscoggin Valley Hospital in Berlin.
According to a statement made on Tuesday by White Mountain National Forest public affairs spokesman Pat Nasta, the USFS's internal policy is to ask victims "as a matter of courtesy" for permission to release their names before reporting them to the press.
Assistant District Ranger Dave Neeley had refused to release the injured man's name on Monday afternoon on the basis of federal privacy rules that apply to medical personnel and in medical settings.
The injured man's condition could not be ascertained without his full name. [end quote]
