Mt. Washington hikers who called for help could face charges for rescue

[iAmKrzys]

Story: http://www.wcvb.com/article/mt-wash...or-help-could-face-charges-for-rescue/9583103

According to the article: "The group told officials they had hiked to the summit of Mt. Washington with the intent of taking the Cog Railway down. When they discovered that the train was not running, they decided to take the Boot Spur back down to Pinkham."

 

[Bob Kittredge]

The link should be http://www.wcvb.com/article/mt-washington-hikers-who-called-for-help-could-face-charges-for-rescue/9583103

 

[egilbe]

They actually thought the train would be running?

https://www.thecog.com/schedule_rates.php

Yeah, that was tough research.

 

[TJsName]

They actually thought the train would be running?

https://www.thecog.com/schedule_rates.php

Yeah, that was tough research.

The article didn't mention that they tried to do any research and failed.

 

[egilbe]

They failed somewhere.

 

[iAmKrzys]

The link should be http://www.wcvb.com/article/mt-washington-hikers-who-called-for-help-could-face-charges-for-rescue/9583103

Thanks for pointing out that I posted incorrect link - it is fixed now.

If I were planning to take a train down and I did not have a habit of researching my plans on the Web, I should still discover that the trains are not running while dropping off a return vehicle at (or near) the train station. Let's just say that I am really puzzled by the hikers' explanation of how things went wrong.

 

[egilbe]

I would expect that anyone taking a train would check the train schedule. Silly me.

 

[TJsName]

I would expect that anyone taking a train would check the train schedule. Silly me.

That's what I was getting at. It's a tough way to learn about the assumptions one makes. If I had to guess it was one organizer and a bunch of followers. That's not a rare scenario when you end up with a whole group of unprepared people. I say they should at least give the people who guided them down the money they were planning to spend on the Cog.

I know several hikers who have planned to take the cog down and found out after getting to the top that there weren't enough spots left for the whole group. So, even if it's running it's not a perfect strategy. Glad they made it down in one piece.

 

[egilbe]

Apparently there was another group of three who missed the train and was walking down the auto road and called 911 because they were too tired to continue.

 

[DayTrip]

You'd think at an absolute minimum if they were going to take the Cog they would have Googled it to see how much it cost, at which point they would have found out it was closed. Let's say hypothetically the Cog was actually running but it was $100 a ticket? Would they have had the money? It always amazes me how completely blindly people wander out into the world without any contemplation of the consequences of their assumptions.

 

[peakbagger]

The regional media had several news clips on about the auto road being open and the Cog being open this week. Of course some stations also mentioned that the auto road was only open to treeline. Its not very practical to have the Cog running to the summit as all the supplies and staff for provisioning and opening up the summit building to visitors comes up via the autoroad.

 

[Greenmountaingoat]

If only any of them had technology like the internet available to them to look stuff up.

 

[TJsName]

You'd think at an absolute minimum if they were going to take the Cog they would have Googled it to see how much it cost, at which point they would have found out it was closed. Let's say hypothetically the Cog was actually running but it was $100 a ticket? Would they have had the money? It always amazes me how completely blindly people wander out into the world without any contemplation of the consequences of their assumptions.

I can't tell if you're trying to be ironic, but I don't assume that everyone would do that research ahead of time. If everyone prepared fully for every excursion, threads like this wouldn't exist. As has been noted numerous times, the size of a mistake is not usually proportional to the severity of the consequence, and many people make terrible mistakes and only wind up with mild discomfort in the end. If you've been lead to believe that the cog is running and it's an option, it's not unreasonable to not challenge it - it's human nature. To fight that requires training and experience that I wouldn't expect young adults to have.

It's fair to look back on an incident to understand the circumstances that lead to it, and to take those points and apply them forward (for victims and observers alike). It's less fair to say that because the victim didn't do something that someone else considers obvious, that the victim should therefore should have expected whatever consequence befell them. I would argue that saying/implying 'What a bunch of lazy/idiot people' instead of 'I hope they learned a lesson' puts one's own hubris on display.

 

[dug]

I dunno...I can't fathom planning on taking a form of public transportation unless I knew when it was scheduled to run...if at all. This isn't a "should I bring my snowshoes?" type question, this is a "I plan on taking a mode other than my own feet, is that even possible?" type question.

Maybe the same people would show up at a T stop in Boston at 3:30 in the morning, and wonder where all the trains are...

 

[sierra]

I can't tell if you're trying to be ironic, but I don't assume that everyone would do that research ahead of time. If everyone prepared fully for every excursion, threads like this wouldn't exist. As has been noted numerous times, the size of a mistake is not usually proportional to the severity of the consequence, and many people make terrible mistakes and only wind up with mild discomfort in the end. If you've been lead to believe that the cog is running and it's an option, it's not unreasonable to not challenge it - it's human nature. To fight that requires training and experience that I wouldn't expect young adults to have.

It's fair to look back on an incident to understand the circumstances that lead to it, and to take those points and apply them forward (for victims and observers alike). It's less fair to say that because the victim didn't do something that someone else considers obvious, that the victim should therefore should have expected whatever consequence befell them. I would argue that saying/implying 'What a bunch of lazy/idiot people' instead of 'I hope they learned a lesson' puts one's own hubris on display.

You are being incredibly gracious. I googled the Cog and had the running dates at hand in 15 seconds. If I ever end up in court for nefarious reasons, you are hearby hired to represent me. pm your retainer cost forthwith.

 

[TJsName]

You are being incredibly gracious. I googled the Cog and had the running dates at hand in 15 seconds. If I ever end up in court for nefarious reasons, you are hearby hired to represent me. pm your retainer cost forthwith.

Maybe this is all just a giant hedge for whenever I inevitably end up doing something that makes the papers/internet for less than impressive reasons.

 

[TJsName]

I dunno...I can't fathom planning on taking a form of public transportation unless I knew when it was scheduled to run...if at all. This isn't a "should I bring my snowshoes?" type question, this is a "I plan on taking a mode other than my own feet, is that even possible?" type question.

Maybe the same people would show up at a T stop in Boston at 3:30 in the morning, and wonder where all the trains are...

Oh man, imagine if those kids thought they could call an Uber from the summit?

 

[sierra]

Maybe this is all just a giant hedge for whenever I inevitably end up doing something that makes the papers/internet for less than impressive reasons.

I'll go out on a limb and state, that if you or me make the papers/internet in a hiking mishap. It will be more glorious, then these fine chaps.

 

[TJsName]

I'll go out on a limb and state, that if you or me make the papers/internet in a hiking mishap. It will be more glorious, then these fine chaps.

If I go down, I'd better get a ride in the helicopter basket. I wonder what the weight limit for the DART is...

 

[RollingRock]

Oh man, imagine if those kids thought they could call an Uber from the summit?

Too funny! Who knows, they probably did given how poorly they were prepared.