Rescue on Mt Monadnock
- Thread starter Mike
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nartreb
Well-known member
On seeing the headline I was expecting to read about a serious injury. There's almost no snow on the mountain but the trails have plenty of ice.
Instead it's another baffling case of being lost for hours not far from the road. It was a clear sunny day, warm for the season, and they would have had company unless they were hiking well after dark or well off-trail.
Instead it's another baffling case of being lost for hours not far from the road. It was a clear sunny day, warm for the season, and they would have had company unless they were hiking well after dark or well off-trail.
A lot of new hikers go there. Seems to me it's an excellent place for large and frequent signage to make people aware of the risks and mitigations.
nartreb
Well-known member
There's quite a lot of "signage" already. What exactly would you put on a sign that would prevent a case like this? Not that we know any details, such as which trailhead they started from or whether they were descending the side of the mountain they intended to.
Becca M
Active member
um, perhaps cell phone charging stations along the trails and a cell tower on top????? There is a limit to what you can do to protect people from themselves.....
sierra
Well-known member
To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of littering a mountain with signage. But, not everyone has the skills to navigate without obvious signs and or markers. Mountains like Monadnock, are a magnet for beginners, this will not change. To be honest, that mountain can be tough to navigate in low visibility unless you know the routes. Most of the trails are blazed on the ground, useless in snow. I'd put the trailhead destinations on any signs up high, that's what beginners need to know. Just trail names are not enough, as a lot don't even know the name of the trail they are on (pathetic but true). I'd consider even using a color code system for the popular trails and painting the rocks on the top of prominent cairns as a visual aid and noting these colors on the signage. I'm not saying, I love this idea, I'm just saying, if you want to prevent inexperienced hikers from losing there way, this is a suggestion that I think would have success. Or nothing could be done and the rescues will continue.
nartreb
Well-known member
We don't know anything about this rescue, but one thing I do know, because I was on the summit the next day (I had previously checked the forecast for the whole long weekend, and I checked the archived observations from Sunday when I saw this thread today), is that the weather was clear and there was not enough snow on the ground to obscure the blazes. Also, most of the trails are labelled not only with blazes, but with colors, letters, and/or symbols, e.g. a white dot, a white cross, D for Dublin, etc. And there are big signs at all intersections. And maps at all the trailheads, showing the names of the trails. And cairns above treeline. And signs at treeline telling people what the cairns are for. And writing all around the summit pointing out which trail is which.
I often avoid photographing trail signs, but on Monadnock that's difficult. I accidentally caught part of "PUMPELLY" in the attached photo, taken Monday.
Einstein supposedly said that human stupidity is infinite. I believe an infinite number of signs would not suffice to prevent people from getting lost on a basically-snowless, sunny day such as Sunday.
I often avoid photographing trail signs, but on Monadnock that's difficult. I accidentally caught part of "PUMPELLY" in the attached photo, taken Monday.
Einstein supposedly said that human stupidity is infinite. I believe an infinite number of signs would not suffice to prevent people from getting lost on a basically-snowless, sunny day such as Sunday.
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iAmKrzys
Member
I have previously argued for visual trail signs like this (albeit with appropriate message for local trails):
I imagine a sign at the trailhead with a bunch of icons that show gloves, hat, hiking boots with spikes, winter jacket, flash light, map, water bottle, food item, matches, fully charged battery would appeal to a lot more visitors than anything written in words. Quite frankly, I rarely read written signs unless I want to check if some activity is not forbidden.
While a sign like this might not prevent the hikers from getting lost, it would keep them in better shape longer once they got in trouble.
Quote from the article: Officials said the two weren't prepared for the winter conditions on the mountain [...]
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DayTrip
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The signage, blazes, etc has improved dramatically over the past 5 or so years. When I first did the Pumpelly Trail in 2012 it felt like a bushwhack more than a trail in many places with little signage. It is now been heavily brushed and has plenty of brand new signs.
I think signage would help somewhat but I've come around more and more to the position that it will make minimal difference as I've followed many of these discussions here on VFTT. Sometimes I wonder if they just eliminated all signage if it wouldn't help because people wouldn't assume everything is taken care of and planning is unnecessary. If you got to a trailhead and it had no sign people might at least do a double take and question if they are even in the right spot before they leave the parking lot. Might at least plant the seed that a map would be a good idea. But in our litigious world that will never happen. The liability is too great.
nartreb
Well-known member
Not likely. I don't have time to check the law in New Hampshire, but it's common for legislatures to exempt state agencies from certain types of lawsuits. Saves money they can use for other projects / pork. Private landowners are also often protected under "recreational use statutes" - because encouraging private landowners to open up land for public use saves the expense of building/running state parks.
peakbagger
In Rembrance , July 2024
One of the things that states do quite well is cover their butt from liability suits. Generally the only way to sue a state is to get the state to agree to be sued.
Places like the Nansen Ski Jump in Milan NH and the Mascot Mine complex in Gorham were both donated to the state by private owners as they were attractive nuisances to private owners but not really an issue to the state.
Places like the Nansen Ski Jump in Milan NH and the Mascot Mine complex in Gorham were both donated to the state by private owners as they were attractive nuisances to private owners but not really an issue to the state.
DayTrip
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Good to know. I just assumed if there wasn't a sign saying you could get hurt, and you wound up getting hurt......I think of all the absurd warning labels on household appliances, toys, etc and just assumed that would extend everywhere. In that case, I say rip all the signs down and see what happens.
Sematary
New member
No need for a cell tower on top. The cell coverage is excellent on Monadnock. I go there frequently - easily more than 100 times now. As for charging stations - why? People can bring portable power packs to charge. Personally, I want to see as little of mans' presence as possible.
Sematary
New member
I am personally baffled that anyone can get lost on Monadnock. Especially right now. There is barely any snow on the mountain - it's mostly ice higher up and the trails are pretty well marked with the exception of a couple of the side trails that new hikers rarely use like Spellman or Smith Connector/White Cliff
I would not want to see a cell tower on top either. But has the cell coverage improved in the last 3 years or so? I think that was about how long ago I last climbed Monadnock, and at that time I found voice communication with another party on the mountain was pretty much impossible - we ended up sending texts, and that worked out fine.
TomK
I have been turned around / confused only three times in the past 20+ years of New England Hiking and two of them happened on Monadnock. The first was when I had very little experience and the other was years later after hiking thousands of miles of trails. One reason it is so easy to get turned around up there is that the terrain surrounding the mountain is all very similar, as opposed to being on Lafayette, for example, so descending, you might not realize you are headed in the wrong direction; but the REAL reason that I was turned around is because some genius named three very similar trails with the name "white." Seriously? White Dot, White Cross, White Arrow? That, to me, can create confusion right off the bat.
