Lost Hiker on Mt Lafayette - FOUND!

[DougPaul]

By the backside, I assume they mean Lincoln Brook Area.

Agreed.

Also, probably not a good area for cell phone signals. And it includes a long walk out with some potentially non-trivial stream crossings.

There's probably logging roads but Lincoln Brook Trail above Owl's Head is probably not well traveled so it might confuse him more.

That is assuming he can make the stream crossing. IIRC, there are some spots where the crossing is essentially impossible. If he has to bushwack along the western shore of Lincoln Brook, it might be a bit difficult...

Doug

 

[Dugan]

yes it does make a difference why they seperated, if only to tell us all,once again, STAY TOGETHER, ESPECIALLY IN DIFFICULT CONDITIONS

There are very few absolutes in life. I can imagine there are situations in which it would be appropriate to separate.

Please, let's see if we can manage to avoid the usual rush to judgement.

 

[snowbird]

They've found him! See the link above which has been updated. Sounds like he is hypothermic, but let's hope it is not too severe.

 

[bobandgeri]

Thanks for sharing the good news! It will be interesting to see where he was.

 

[WhiteMTHike]

Always glad when a prayer is answered . Thanks for posting.

 

[grouseking]

EDIT: Well I see they just found him. Horray!! It will be interesting to hear where they found him.

Earlier post....
I don't see how he could be on the Lincoln Brook side if they descended via the Old Bridal Path. From what the story says, it sounds like they turned around prior to treeline, perhaps the Greenleaf Hut. It is quite possible that he fell and got disoriented on his way down and is in the Walker Brook Ravine area. I just dont see how he could have climed all the way up Lafayette, over the ridge and wandered down into the Pemi. He described lots of streams in his area, and that describes Walker Brook area quite well. He probably didn't know where he was because in that ravine you are surrounded by much higher elevated areas like Agony Ridge on one side, and Lafayette on the other. I wonder if he is strong enough physically and mentally to follow the rivers downstream.

The details are really sketchy, but from what has been described so far, it doesn't sound plausible that he made it all the way over to the Pemi, esp giving the conditions of the weekend. I really hope he makes it out. It makes me think twice about solo hiking, esp in winter.

grouseking

 

[sli74]

That is wonderful news. Glad he is safe and I hope we will be able to learn from what went wrong, if indeed we ever find out precisely what went wrong.

sli74

 

[dr_wu002]

Glad he's safe! It seemed a bit grim for a while.

That is wonderful news. Glad he is safe and I hope we will be able to learn from what went wrong, if indeed we ever find out precisely what went wrong.

sli74

Let's call him when he feels better! New site member!

-Dr. Wu

 

[ROCKYSUMMIT]

Wow, that's great news! It had to be pretty rough out there. Hopefully we'll hear all the details and that he's doing fine.

 

[carole]

I was holding my breath. Now I can breath a sigh of relief. Hope he recovers well.

 

[kamoore63]

Thank goodness for a good ending! It was sounding a tad grim there, esp. when they found equipment without finding the person. The news report said they found him "on that mountain" so it'll be interesting to see where he actually was (since I suspect they could be using "on that mountain" to refer to the entire ridge).

 

[DougPaul]

Any idea why he called his friends instead of 911?

People are sometimes embarassed to call the authorities. One of the 3 on Mt Hood also called family rather than 911. Since he survived, perhaps he will tell us.

I thought 911 could pinpoint the location of phone calls and he could have been rescued a day sooner?

You need a GPS equpped phone (and good signals) for one mode. Another mode uses angle or time of signal arrival, but this requires that the signal be picked up by 2 or more towers. There is also some date by which the capability is supposed to be operational (don't know if it has passed).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E911
http://www.fcc.gov/911/enhanced/

I thought he had probably dropped into Lafayette Brook drainage, but he should have been able to walk out from there by now.

Perhaps the others had the food and stove and he was weak from hunger and dehydration. (One can conjure up a range plausible explainations for a wide range of situations.)

I prefer to wait for the detailed reports before speculating.

Glad to see that he was found and rescued.

Doug

 

[gaiagirl]

So glad to hear. Thanks everyone for the updates.

 

[SherpaKroto]

In my best Mr. Burns voice... "Excellent!"

 

[bobandgeri]

Latest video appears to show him in the parking area being wheeled to a ambulance - he was sitting up and giving everyone a thumbs up! Reports says he has some frost bite, but appears to be okay.

 

[una_dogger]

Very good news! It was a cold day to be out there, and especially alone. It would be interesting to hear his own thoughts on this experience....is he on the boards??

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

The details are really sketchy, but from what has been described so far, it doesn't sound plausible that he made it all the way over to the Pemi, esp giving the conditions of the weekend. I really hope he makes it out. It makes me think twice about solo hiking, esp in winter.
grouseking

Just got off the phone with a PVSART buddy, who confirmed indeed our lost hiker was on the Lincoln Brook side of Lafayette when rescued by helicopter (not sure how far down, but below treeline). The creme de la creme of rescuers from Fish & Game, White Mountain Rescue Service, AVSAR, and PVSART were helicoptered to the ridge this morning (two Fish & Game guys are in the red parka in the WMUR photo at the link above). Fortunately, the hiker had a sleeping bag and was able to survive two nights out; he did the right thing in getting below treeline, IMHO, unlike the couple who died over Easter weekend in 2004. Apparently he suffered some frostbite. Some of you long-timers on this site will remember the camp group that over Thanksgiving (or early December?) a few years ago hiked up Falling Waters, over Franconia Ridge, over Garfield, and down to 13 Falls, then turned around and hiked all the way up again over Garfield and Lafayette and back out via Falling Waters (or perhaps the BP?), as they did not have a map and were clueless about where they were. So, two nights out in winter conditions, with many of them wearing sneakers. Some had turned around earlier in the trip and reported the others missing. I believe that they were fined throught the newly minted "reckless hiking" law at the time. Until we learn the details, I think that it is too early to say what happened this time, but I am glad he is alive.

 

[kamoore63]

Apparently he was in his sleeping bag with "gloves on his feet and frostbite on his body" according to the latest A.P. press release (http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2007/01/22/search_continues_for_lost_hiker/). Hopefully we'll get some more details prior to Mohamed's analysis in Appalachia.

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

Hopefully we'll get some more details prior to Mohamed's analysis in Appalachia.

You'll have to wait until December for my analysis

 

[Rejean]

I hike yesterday Flume-Liberty-Little haystack-Lincoln-Lafayette
and I was following 3 hikers with some patch ''Fish,,,,''. Going down
the Old Bride Path I saw 2 helicopters that seem to search someone
and the parking lots where full of cars (more cars than the numbers
of hiker on the trails). Now that answer my question that I had in
mind.
Saturday was not a day to traverse the Ridge with 0 visibility.