"Live" Rescue On Facebook: Hiker Lost On Lafayette

[TJsName]

Facing one's death is a pretty intense experience. Glad he got off the mountain.

 

[TCD]

Glad you got out.

Given the crusty snow and the immediate turnaround, I'm surprised there were no foot tracks to follow back down. I'm guessing you were hiking from Greenleaf? I think that's the most popular approach. I've only been there once, in summer, but I remember that it's a pretty short trip back down to treeline (half hour tops). I know the wind can wipe out foot tracks, but did it blow so hard as to wipe out a foot track in crust within a half hour? How good was your lighting?

If that kind of thing happens routinely, for the future you should bring a package of wands, and wand out the trail for the return, like people do on glaciers.

 

[Tom Rankin]

https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/what-you-need-know-about-text-911

Tim

Thanks, I'll check this again in a few months. I'm updating a hiking guide for the Catskills, and so far, there is only 1 of 4 counties in the area that has any texting of 911, and it's only TTY.

 

[Tom Rankin]

OK, guess it's not common knowledge. To me, gives me more insight on the reason for him reaching out for help on FB. Thanks, Tom.

I checked Tim's link and there is no 911-texting in the Catskills. I hope it will start soon, but it is county-by-county here, so it could take a while for all 4 counties to be on board.

 

[yogi]

This coincidentally showed up in the paper yesterday.

https://www.fosters.com/news/20181215/maines-911-system-now-accepts-texts

 

[jniehof]

NH got text to 911 about three years ago and made a big push to publicise it. Details at bottom of this page. It does require service with your carrier (voice 911 requires service but you don't need to be on a tower with your carrier, just a compatible phone, that doesn't need a contract with any carrier.) Also has to be SMS not MMS, and doesn't have the location.

I am surprised by data getting through when voice didn't but life is strange. It also sounds from the after-the-fact post that the individual did not attempt to text 911.

 

[Mike P.]

Glad the hiker got out okay, other seasoned hikers, at least one who I've hiked with from here also got lost on Greenleaf above treeline, he went down the southern(ish) drainage. As Chris mentioned, in poor visibility, the cairns blend in as while Lafayette is not as broad as Washington, the trail isn't as obvious as the C-Path in many spots.


The mistake was made leaving treeline or the hut and not noticing the changing conditions. I'd question why continue up in conditions that were rapidly going downhill (If not rapid, he failed to recognize them during a longer period of time & from the description, he's been up there often) to see a sunrise that was going to be virtually non-existent. If he is as experienced as he says, he, like many of us, have taken dozens of pictures of gray clouds with a few rocks and visibility of 30-100 feet. (The 100 footers have a little bit of rime or snow covered scrub sometimes or rime on a summit sign)


In the last several years, Lafayette has had more than it's share of rescues, it seems that people think that since it's not a Presidential, the risk is much lower. That is not the case.

I wouldn't classify Pierce with the rest or the Presidentials, in fact its a decent place to go and pop your head out of the trees in poor weather and get back quickly into the trees. (I'd put Garfield, Liberty, Indian Head, Martha, Tom, Jackson, North Hancock and Tecumseh on that list also although some of those just have an open partial view and you have other navigational issues depending on ice, snow depth and water crossings)

The other thing that people rarely brag about are trips that do not go as planned. I've learned far more on these trips than the ones that provided great pictures. I love my Half Dome Sunrise pics from Sentinel Dome but it was a short hike near dawn after driving up to Washburn Point for Pre-sunrise pics. I learned much more on a cold North Twin trip where I made the summit however, the idea of a protected trip in bad weather along the ridge did not work out when the 6-8 foot trees had 4-6 feet of snow around them. (My knees had protection from the wind, in summer it's a dense green wind block.)


I'm very happy not to be on Facebook, (Rant stopped in midsentence & deleted....)

 

[sierra]

I saw that post early on and called Fish and Game myself. I gave them the location and told them it was not a fake request. They said, they would respond.

 

[RollingRock]

Here is the hiker's posting on Facebook as to what happened during his hike:

I'm home, probably some mild frostbite but nothing serious. Thank you to all who took me seriously because it was serious. I'll give the whole story below but first I want to emphasize that 911 was my first call and it should be yours in that scenario too.

I started hiking up to Lafayette around 2am. For those who don't know this about me, I love sunrise hiking. I've seen over half of the 48 at sunrise or sunset at least once. I left my plans with some close friends. I had checked the forecast and it wasn't anything out of the ordinary for winter(ish) time on the franconia ridge. A few hundred feet below the summit I noticed deteriorating visibility and turned back. Anyone that decides against summiting due to condition changes knows how agonizing it is, and that we would do the same thing again and again to mitigate that risk. For the record, i've done franconia ridge 8 or 9 times and 5 in winter. I know the territory and I know the trails.

I cairn hoped a good ways back until I hit a dead end around 8am. I bushwacked around (maybe taking more aggressive routes than advisable, at one point I was down the treeline/shrub line on the bowlside of lafayette) to find the next portion of trail. I couldn't. Visibility was down to probably ten yards from 8am through when I was rescued. I spent a solid two hours trying to figure out which way to the shoulder for a return to the hut area for a safe return. Earlier in the bushwack I lost my map, compass, and bivy because I went for a snack and the bag containing the items landed on some hard crust for the wind to remove from the mountain (protip, don't keep those the items together in a bag).

So I returned to the cairn I found earlier. I tried to call 911 but it didn't go through. Maybe as the result of the thick cloud, maybe the result of the 50+ mph winds, or maybe my cell carrier sucks. Either way i couldn't get a call through so I texted the people I left my plans with and posted here because for unknown reasons I was able to. Hate me for posting that on here if you want to, but I would rather have random people on Facebook calling for a SAR just in case my friends didn't have access to their phones or whatever.

So the rescue is initiated around 10am. I dug myself a snow hole next to a rock, put the final touches on my parkas and hard shells, and lay on my bag. They couldn't get to me until 5pm died to the harshness and visibility conditions. I lay in that hole for 7 hours. 7 hours of trying to figure out if all my gear would hold out. Of figuring out what the last words I want to be to my family and friends. To record a list will and testament. To come to terms with the people I've bettered and worsened, the friendships and relationships i've had, to understand that this might be it. I accepted the likelihood of my death today.

I held out in that hole for 7 hours, being blasted by artic temps and 50 mph+ winds while it also buried me in fresh snow. SAR came as it was getting dark, they too faced difficulty navigating those conditions.

You can hate me for getting rescued or for posting here to help get one underway. The fact of the matter is if I had been unprepared or if I was lacking soft skills I would not have made it out.

 

[TJsName]

Same as post 17.

 

[Mike P.]

A key thing for people to remember as he pointed out and as we saw when one of our own was injured and needed a rescue, it takes hours for SAR to organize and to reach you. Do you have gear that will allow you to sit and live for seven hours (or more) if you are immobile or lost?

 

[hikerbrian]

That's pretty intense. Considering your last words to friends and family. That's firmly in Type III Fun territory, I think.

FWIW, unless it's a bluebird day or close to it, before I head above treeline on Lafayette or similarly committing peaks, I've got my compass around my neck, my map tethered to my wind pants, and my GPS on and clipped to the front of my pack straps. I'm not perfect or a particularly hard alpine man, but that strategy has little cost (provided you've already got the requisite items) and your chances of becoming lost are about as low as you can get them. Though I may add wands to my list for out and backs. What are others' strategies?

 

[DayTrip]

That's pretty intense. Considering your last words to friends and family. That's firmly in Type III Fun territory, I think.

FWIW, unless it's a bluebird day or close to it, before I head above treeline on Lafayette or similarly committing peaks, I've got my compass around my neck, my map tethered to my wind pants, and my GPS on and clipped to the front of my pack straps. I'm not perfect or a particularly hard alpine man, but that strategy has little cost (provided you've already got the requisite items) and your chances of becoming lost are about as low as you can get them. Though I may add wands to my list for out and backs. What are others' strategies?

I don't know that there really is another "strategy" is there? You should be constantly updating your location as you go (at least mentally) so you know where you are to some reasonable distance. I think it is a given that map, compass and GPS if you have it are out and/or easily accessible all the time, not just in poor weather (maybe not tethered down but readily accessible). At the first point you don't know where you are backtrack to the last place you did and start over. If it is that hard to do then it's time to head back. I'm no foul weather navigating expert by any means but in Winter I do not take any chances with that process. It is amazing how an area that you know well looks completely different with snow on it, even in the trees. I remember when I did Liberty for the "Winter list" it was after some considerable fresh snow and as I got to the upper part of trail near intersection with FRT it was so snow blasted and drifted that I didn't recognize it at all even though pretty much exactly where I was on the map and the trail corridor there is fairly defined.

I found it interesting on Facebook that many people found a "map and compass to be useless in low visibility". (Somewhere, Nessmuk, not knowing why, just had a cold chill run down his spine. ) I got a lot of grief for challenging that notion. Apparently most people are under the impression that unless you can identify clear landmarks in the distance you have to have a GPS to navigate. Explains a lot. It is certainly a pain in the ass using a map and compass in a blinding 40 mph wind but it is not useless. I'm not questioning the guys skills, experience or choices at all (seems he handled himself pretty well actually) but I also found it a little odd that he said he could see about 30' but considered that a "white out". 30' is certainly not great but it is enough to at least identify some terrain features, recent footprints, etc. and would have been sufficient to back track if he was maintaining his location at least mentally.

 

[TCD]

Good info coming out now.

Overall, I agree with Mike P.: The mistake was heading up into the bad condition, instead of turning around when it started to deteriorate. Ideally, review and analysis would focus more on that than on how to deal with the problem once you are in it. Many folks do a good job of dealing with an emergency, and that becomes the focus, rather than how the emergency could have been prevented.

But back to the more popular topic: Once you are in the "zero-visibility"condition (let's say nothing can be seen past your outstretched hand), one other useful piece of equipment can be a long (100' or so) length of brightly colored nylon cord. If you are going cairn to cairn in zero vis, you can attach the cord to a cairn and string it out as you go. This allows you to pivot around and look for the next cairn; maintain a precise compass bearing by taking the bearing on the cord; and always be able to find your way back to the previous cairn even if tracks are gone. Disclaimer: I have read about this method, but I have not had to use it.

 

[hikerbrian]

I found it interesting on Facebook that many people found a "map and compass to be useless in low visibility"

Wow. Just, wow.

The mistake was heading up into the bad condition, instead of turning around when it started to deteriorate.

In general I agree with this statement, but I think it's quite context dependent. It feels a bit like saying, "The mistake was hiking solo in the winter." To continue on in deteriorating conditions certainly presents greater risk than turning around, but it's POSSIBLE the risk can be managed, depending on the individual circumstances. As an example, every single time I've attempted a Presi-traverse in the winter (I'm 0 for 6 for completing one, at this point) the conditions have eventually gone to crap. But we've often continued on into difficult conditions. We're also typically a team of 4 very fit, experienced individuals, we've typically got 2 dedicated GPS units between us, 2-4 VERY skilled map/compass users, and (at this point) a lot of experience with just about every bailout option. If conditions are bad, you can believe I'm on high alert for even the slightest additional challenge, but poor visibility and moderate winds by themselves are sometimes manageable.

In the FB/Lafayette case, it seems the individual took too many risks, and they added up. Hiking SOLO into deteriorating conditions is a big risk. And not having multiple means of navigating in poor conditions is another. As an aside, I'm a bit surprised the map, compass and bivy were all together in a bag. This sounds like an 'emergency bag.' For me, a map and compass are not items I stuff into my pack for emergencies only. Honestly, I'm a bit skeptical of this part of the story (those items blowing away). But I'm not going to go digging into FB to satisfy my curiosity.

 

[sierra]

I'm sure many older members will agree with my following statement, the study of maps was not taken lightly in our hikes. I spent ours with my maps spread out studying my routes and the terrain they crossed. I haven't carried maps in the Whites for over 20 years. Some will think this is not a good idea, I've gotten flack for it in more them one discussion. Truth is, I have them, they are in my head. You could give me a location in the Whites and I could tell you the direction you need to get out, fairly accurately. Granted my sense of direction is excellent. When I did hunt, I could hunt for many hours and then simply walk out and come within a quarter mile of my truck. On Washington, I have hiked in in very low visibility without taking any bearings up or down. I've hiked a lot in CO, I have never bought a map. I do use the little ones in the guidebook, but I never needed anything else. Twice I got lost in CO following "use" trails. Both times, I got back to a trail without consulting a map. I had studied the guidebook to the point, where I could simply visualize the maps. Granted my system wouldn't work geocaching, but for mountaineering it has never failed me. Back to this particular rescue. Yes, that slope above the hut to the summit has befuddled many in low visibility. But to be honest, getting back to the hut from where he was, isn't that tough. You take a bearing west and follow the terrain, keeping in mind the topography as you go. If you drop steeply to the South, your entering Walker ravine, back up and adjust. Falling off to the North, same thing. The scrub line is south to north running, find it and traverse back and forth looking for the trail. Even if you don't find it, enter the scrub and keep west. The scrub would have better for him elements wise for sure, he was right out in the wind. Most veteran white mountain hikers know, when in trouble get below treeline. He stayed put, not the worst strategy if your hopelessly lost, but id the weather was a lot worse, he could have succumbed to the elements before a rescue arrived. Of all the tricks and techniques we could share, the foremost important skill is this. You should never hike or climb beyond your skillset period. When I started out, I barely went above treeline in cloudy weather. In subsequent trips, I went further above in bad weather. I rarely went where I felt I could be in danger. Granted I was a soloist even back then, so caution was key. Rarely then or now does anyone know where I am. ( I don't need feedback on that, ty.).

 

[DayTrip]

Good info coming out now.

Overall, I agree with Mike P.: The mistake was heading up into the bad condition, instead of turning around when it started to deteriorate. Ideally, review and analysis would focus more on that than on how to deal with the problem once you are in it. Many folks do a good job of dealing with an emergency, and that becomes the focus, rather than how the emergency could have been prevented.

But back to the more popular topic: Once you are in the "zero-visibility"condition (let's say nothing can be seen past your outstretched hand), one other useful piece of equipment can be a long (100' or so) length of brightly colored nylon cord. If you are going cairn to cairn in zero vis, you can attach the cord to a cairn and string it out as you go. This allows you to pivot around and look for the next cairn; maintain a precise compass bearing by taking the bearing on the cord; and always be able to find your way back to the previous cairn even if tracks are gone. Disclaimer: I have read about this method, but I have not had to use it.

That is a great idea and was mentioned by several people on Facebook. Another was using your headlamp and back up headlamp the same way. Turn one lamp on, navigate to a cairn, put the 2nd lamp on it, go get #1, blah, blah, blah. String would be more usable but I thought the headlamp idea was a good back up thought.

I'm curious though how many cairns are within 100' of each other. Seems like they'd be farther on many trails. Not sure what 250' or so of fluorescent twine would weigh but I think I'll check it out. As someone who hikes alone this is a worthwhile idea.

 

[sierra]

I don't see the "string" method as viable at all. Your going to carry 100ft of cord for the very slim chance you need it? Further more, there are not many places where you can find cairns in the winter that are 100ft apart. Your better off, learning how to read terrain and navigate, imo.

 

[Grey J]

"why continue up in conditions that were rapidly going downhill" Mike P

New Rule: When conditions go downhill, you should go downhill too."

 

[DayTrip]

I don't see the "string" method as viable at all. Your going to carry 100ft of cord for the very slim chance you need it? Further more, there are not many places where you can find cairns in the winter that are 100ft apart. Your better off, learning how to read terrain and navigate, imo.

If you're planning to go out in lousy conditions why not? I looked it up and you can get 250' bundles that weigh like 4 ozs and they're like 6"x2" or thereabouts. Hardly a lot of space or weight. And we're not talking about this being your primary means of navigation. I think everyone on here is operating under the assumption that we already know how to navigate. We're talking white out, difficult conditions - or at least I was. If I'm at a cairn and know I should be heading roughly 180 deg or whatever for the trail then I take a bearing, head in that direction unfurling the string, etc. We're not all robot, mountaineering super heros like you Sierra.