Overnight Hiker Rescue Conducted On Mt. Washington

[KRooney]

https://nhfishgame.com/2025/02/04/overnight-hiker-rescue-conducted-on-mt-washington/

Two very lucky hikers. What were they thinking?

 

[skiguy]

https://nhfishgame.com/2025/02/04/overnight-hiker-rescue-conducted-on-mt-washington/

Two very lucky hikers. What were they thinking?

In too deep too late in the day. Wonder if they were doing a loop from The Ammo or an out and back.

 

[KRooney]

"Crews immediately set up emergency shelters and began to warm both of the hikers. The warming process took an hour, but by approximately 3:00 a.m., the hikers were able to move on their own and the group continued down the Jewell Trail toward the base station of the Cog Railway"

My hat's off to the rescuers who were able to warm them enough so they could move in those conditions. Subzero and high winds? Jeesh...

 

[maineguy]

In too deep too late in the day. Wonder if they were doing a loop from The Ammo or an out and back.

They were doing a loop of Monroe and Jefferson...

IMO, these kinds of loops are dangerous because you don't know what the condition of the trail you are going to descend is. In this case, apparently the Jewell Trail was not broken out or able to be followed well enough to stay out of trouble. I've descended that trail a few times in summer and found it to be difficult to follow above treeline. In summer, no sweat because you can generally discern the trail if you look closely. In winter, good luck if it is obscured by wind blown snow.

https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/mount-washington-rescue-kathryn-mckee/

 

[ImYourHuckleberry]

https://nhfishgame.com/2025/02/04/overnight-hiker-rescue-conducted-on-mt-washington/

Two very lucky hikers. What were they thinking?

They got some pretty bad results for sure, but there are lots of little mistakes that can compound and put you in that kind of situation with the right amount of bad luck. (Unless I missed something in the article explaining something really obviously dumb that they did.)

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

They were doing a loop of Monroe and Jefferson...

IMO, these kinds of loops are dangerous because you don't know what the condition of the trail you are going to descend is. In this case, apparently the Jewell Trail was not broken out or able to be followed well enough to stay out of trouble. I've descended that trail a few times in summer and found it to be difficult to follow above treeline. In summer, no sweat because you can generally discern the trail if you look closely. In winter, good luck if it is obscured by wind blown snow.

https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/mount-washington-rescue-kathryn-mckee/

Thanks for posting this additional article with the planned itinerary, although it is not clear to me if they made it to Jefferson and got stuck in the spruce traps on the way back to Jewell Trail.

Three years ago March, I hiked Jefferson by ascending the Cog route and traversing on Gulfside for my pm grid quest (beginning noontime or later) and made some mental notes about finding the top of Jewell Trail instead of descending the Cog route on my way back in the dark. Once on Jefferson’s summit with only an hour of daylight remaining, I called an audible and decided to take the safer descent route down Caps Ridge, even with the scrambling and added mileage of the Jefferson Notch and Cog roads to get back my vehicle in the Cog lot.

I have an incredible respect for spruce traps, and the weather conditions over the past 4-5 weeks this winter without rain and sun crusts to give the snowpack much structure makes for classic spruce trap conditions.

A lot of viewers mocked Naomi Watts’ (aka Pam Bales) spruce trap debacle in the film “Infinite Storm,” but not I. Well, maybe there was some embellishment in the film, but the parts with snowshoes getting stuck and losing one’s energy trying to extricate from spruce traps are all too real in my experience.

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

"Crews immediately set up emergency shelters and began to warm both of the hikers. The warming process took an hour, but by approximately 3:00 a.m., the hikers were able to move on their own and the group continued down the Jewell Trail toward the base station of the Cog Railway"

My hat's off to the rescuers who were able to warm them enough so they could move in those conditions. Subzero and high winds? Jeesh...

Bothy tents are amazing!

 

[KRooney]

Bothy tents are amazing!

Do the SAR groups carry Bothy tents? Gwynneley nests? Or both?

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

Do the SAR groups carry Bothy tents? Gwynneley nests? Or both?

Bothy, I think, like the one seen from the Blackhawk in the Little Haystack rescue this past December.

 

[skiguy]

How does one interpret this: "The women, who both live in central Massachusetts, were prepared and made it past their turnaround points"?

 

[ImYourHuckleberry]

How does one interpret this: "The women, who both live in central Massachusetts, were prepared and made it past their turnaround points"?

I think it probably means that they picked a point where they would decide whether to continue with the loop or turn around. And they made it there and decided to continue.

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

How does one interpret this: "The women, who both live in central Massachusetts, were prepared and made it past their turnaround points"?

Or, something was lost in translation by the reporter, which is not unusual as reporters typically do not know the lingo and edit the best that they can (ex., usually we talk about turn-around times rather turn-around points). The Worcester chapter of the AMC has been traditionally a good group for mentoring and prepping hikers for wintertime hikes.

 

[ImYourHuckleberry]

Or, something was lost in translation by the reporter, which is not unusual as reporters typically do not know the lingo and edit the best that they can (ex., usually we talk about turn-around times rather turn-around points). The Worcester chapter of the AMC has been traditionally a good group for mentoring and prepping hikers for wintertime hikes.

A loop hike generally requires thinking about a TAT as well as a point since eventually it becomes harder to turn around than continue, even if you've reached your TAT.

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

A loop hike generally requires thinking about a TAT as well as a point since eventually it becomes harder to turn around than continue, even if you've reached your TAT.

Exactly the reason that I changed my plans for the return route from Jefferson in my earlier post.

 

[CaptCaper]

Thanks for posting this additional article with the planned itinerary, although it is not clear to me if they made it to Jefferson and got stuck in the spruce traps on the way back to Jewell Trail.

Three years ago March, I hiked Jefferson by ascending the Cog route and traversing on Gulfside for my pm grid quest (beginning noontime or later) and made some mental notes about finding the top of Jewell Trail instead of descending the Cog route on my way back in the dark. Once on Jefferson’s summit with only an hour of daylight remaining, I called an audible and decided to take the safer descent route down Caps Ridge, even with the scrambling and added mileage of the Jefferson Notch and Cog roads to get back my vehicle in the Cog lot.

I have an incredible respect for spruce traps, and the weather conditions over the past 4-5 weeks this winter without rain and sun crusts to give the snowpack much structure makes for classic spruce trap conditions.

A lot of viewers mocked Naomi Watts’ (aka Pam Bales) spruce trap debacle in the film “Infinite Storm,” but not I. Well, maybe there was some embellishment in the film, but the parts with snowshoes getting stuck and losing one’s energy trying to extricate from spruce traps are all too real in my experience.

I agree. Back in the day I used a 36 in snowshoe. Hit a good spruce trap and after that went to a smaller shoe. Also the snow was spring wet. Got soaked.