North Conway "Hiker" rescue

[JustBob]

Long before cell phones were invented I spent the weekend climbing on Whitehorse and Cathedral with a college group.

One of our parties started up Cathedral late in the day and finished the last pitch by headlamp. I was with the leader's girlfriend, a non-climber, who was apoplectic.

Somebody (not us) saw the lights and called the authorities. They showed up with a huge bullhorn on a trailer, pointed it at the cliff and told our buddies to flash three times if they were ok. They flashed, and the authorities left.

We all waited at the trailhead to watch the leader's girlfriend rip him a new one.

 

[ChrisB]

Boy meets girl. Boy takes girl rock climbing. Girl freaks out. Girl calls 911. Who knows what really happened?

A friend who is a guide told me some details on this little epic.

Call came in around 11 PM and MRS was contacted by F&G. MSR initially was not happy to respond, given the lack of injuries and plethora of stupidity displayed. Reportedly several MSR guys were called who refused the call out.

The party was wandering around to right of Standard Route in darkness and got themselves into a garden about 100 feet below the top out.

It was suggested that they tie in, wait 5 hours for dawn and then get themselves off. They balked.

Finally a few guys agreed to go out. They hiked to the top of the cliff, located the party and down-climbed to them, then led them up and off by headlamp around 2AM

Rescuers expressed skepticism about the "two dropped headlamps" story and a fair amount of disgust about the nature of the incident (lack of injuries, late start, no lights, etc.)

Be interesting to see if anyone finds two headlamps at the base of the cliff. I'm guessing no one will.

 

[skiguy]

It was suggested that they tie in, wait 5 hours for dawn and then get themselves off. They balked.

Hmmm....someone else here had the same idea Hope this wasn’t a first date for that dude.