missing hiker - Lancaster, NH

[TCD]

n.b. the v squared term. All other things being equal, a 100 mph wind exerts 4 times the force of a 50 mph wind.

This was very sad, but the short story is that the mistake was made in the car, as was said earlier. No one should go out in those conditions. Travel is essentially impossible.

 

[Driver8]

This was very sad, but the short story is that the mistake was made in the car, as was said earlier. No one should go out in those conditions. Travel is essentially impossible.

I could see a party of White Mountain novitiates in such conditions, with an Ed Viesturs-type leader, training for the Himalayans, fully geared up with sleeping bag and tenting and ready to bivouac or, more likely, to stay at Crag Camp or the Perch. Kate's outing, whether she knew it or not at decision time, became a suicide mission, at the latest, when she continued up from the hut after summiting Madison.

 

[TJsName]

n.b. the v squared term. All other things being equal, a 100 mph wind exerts 4 times the force of a 50 mph wind... Travel is essentially impossible.

Yeah, that's what I'm getting at here. Winds that strong require constant re-balancing (both physical and mental effort) in addition to the effort to overcome the wind drag. Walking against a lazy river is the closest experience I have, so imaging myself trying to walk against a strong current under ideal conditions is enough to give me a strong appreciation for the difficulties of high-wind in winter conditions.

 

[jfb]

Trying to walk in those conditions reminds me of being thrown around by crashing waves while body-surfing.

I've retreated a couple of times at Madison Hut (solo) because of strong NW winds and have always wondered if others would have continued on.

 

[Grey J]

The Enemy on High

You've hiked amidst the deepest drifting snow
But frozen fluff has never been your foe
And even when the mercury plummets
Seldom are you kept from summits
But when the winter wind whips up a gale
The odds increase that fragile humans fail
It shows but little mercy when it blows
It penetrates each layer of your clothes
It takes the young and makes them old
It shreds your will, invades your soul
It blocks your path and robs your breath
Then knocks you down unveiling death
In the wind
The brutal unforgiving killer wind

 

[weatherman]

Trying to walk in those conditions reminds me of being thrown around by crashing waves while body-surfing.

I've retreated a couple of times at Madison Hut (solo) because of strong NW winds and have always wondered if others would have continued on.

So true... Madison in July of about 1998 was the only time I ever got real hypothermia, after summiting Adams in shorts in sleet with a big external frame pack and winds gusting on the summit of George to 104 mph. Only similar experience was exactly that (body surfing with waves over head), but I could leave the ocean anytime I wanted, and it was not cold.