Trail Runners Rescued from Mt Lafayette

[egilbe]

It would depend on the climb and guides, if you are local here, EMS, Chauvin, IME, and your doing a winter Washington trip, sure, their is some education. Same with RMI and Rainier, which is looked on by some as the peak of places they will go, others as a warm up for Denali. I don't know who her guide was and how many days they were together, or their record either. (more on that later)

In reading Into Thin Air, The Climb and Beck Weather's book, what they seemed to be looking at is can you handle the gear, (John K, commented that some climbers seemed to have difficultly with crampons.) They focused on how to traverse the ladders, how to "hook/tie" into the fixed lines. how to stay hydrated and making sure they are eating well and look out for HAPE/HACE etc. Part of me would think that as a guide, I don't want to educate type A personalities on how to determine weather and what the difference a hard but doable day and how thin that line is between going and not going. You certainly don't want a debate with your clients who you've educated on second guessing you. I know with scout groups and school groups, I was not looking at debating with others, scouts or parents on whether the plan was safe or unsafe & that was just local. A guide doing high altitude trips runs a delicate balance between getting clients to summits and keeping them alive. Bailing too early or having clients die puts you out of business. (The 2nd more tragic and sad)

I have no idea what Kate's summit days were on those big peaks, they do have beautiful days (whatever that means at 18-22K) and a beautiful day on Denali or Aconagua or Elberus is better than a brutal day on the Rockpile.

As for Washington's weather, as we know, that same weather applies to Jefferson, Adams, Madison and Monroe. (It's probably 90-95% the same on Lincoln, Lafayette, South Twin and Moosilauke, Katahdin, Marcy & it's highest neighbors.) I wasn't surprised that someone would get in trouble last weekend on F-Ridge. The hike is immensely popular and few discuss the weather of Lafayette. The alpine zone up there is fairly broad and it's cairns and features are not very distinctive. On the ridge it's narrow but not on Lafayette. I'm unsure how many of the new hikers understand Washington's weather extends to the other higher summits, they just don't have weather observatories on them. (Same as Avalanche danger in Gulf of Slides, Madison Gulf, Great Gulf, along with the Trap Dike and on Wrights and Gothics which by the slides on these peaks should be fairly evident but other than Tucks and Huntington, there is no "official" report.

In Winter I prefer doing the loop by going up OBP and down Falling Waters as I can decide at the Hut whether I go up or down and then again as I get out of the trees before heading for the summit. On the summit you make a decision to go back down or across. If it's okay to cross and then changes on the ridge and isn't so bad that a descent in the pemi is required to save your life, (which meant I picked the wrong day), getting off Little Haystack is easier, either down Falling Waters, which gets back into the trees pretty close to the summit, unlike leaving Lafayette, or staying on the FRT, although much fewer hikers do the ridge between little Haystack and Liberty Springs Trail and descending the rocks can be a bit tricky there, worse IMO than descending Liberty heading to Flume which requires some care in winter. In other seasons, I prefer up Falling Waters but it's not that big a deal.

The scene that Ty Gagne paints of the solitary hiker standing on Haystack looking longingly down Franconia Ridge trail, weighing the pros and cons of hiking it that particular day and then descending, living to hike another day, sticks with me. I've done that several times at treeline, debating whether I want to continue my hike. I'm not goal driven enough to reach a peak that particular day. I have no problem bailing. I usually defer to my GF's better judgement. The one time I over-ruled her was on the summit of Adams one cold July afternoon. She wanted to go back the way we came, which put us above treeline longer. I forced her to head down off the summit cone towards Adams 5 and relative shelter from the wind. She still thinks she was right. I know I was. She really hates the wind. She hates wearing ski googles because they fog up. (reminder: cat crap goggles) Once her eyes tear up from the wind, she can't see...But, she's cautious. I defer to her judgement. I'll live longer that way.

 

[DayTrip]

A lot of her decision making was compromised by hypothermia. Her type of personality was driven and in the absence of better judgement, she was programmed by nature or upbringing to drive on. Ty Gagne spells it out pretty well in his book. She wasn't practicing self-care, probably didn't want to take the time to hydrate or eat. She was found with 3 full frozen water bottles. Its known that she had those three water bottles, and a thermos that was never found. Once she started that downward spiral, there was no recovering.

I think the biggest decision she made incorrectly was getting out of the car that morning. At that point she should have been alert, in possession of the relevant information and in control of her emotions and despite all the weather reports she put her backpack on and headed up the trail. She was not compromised by hypothermia at that point. At tree line she was probably still quite alert and coherent and after assessing the conditions she continued on again. At that point the whole thing just snowballed out of control.

 

[sierra]

I think the biggest decision she made incorrectly was getting out of the car that morning. At that point she should have been alert, in possession of the relevant information and in control of her emotions and despite all the weather reports she put her backpack on and headed up the trail. She was not compromised by hypothermia at that point. At tree line she was probably still quite alert and coherent and after assessing the conditions she continued on again. At that point the whole thing just snowballed out of control.

Some people are doomed to make poor decisions, either by ego or lack of complete understanding of their situation. I once met a girl hiking on the trail. We hit it off and did maybe a half dozen solid hikes together, always meeting at the trailhead. One day, we got caught in a freak storm halfway up Madison's cone. I'm no slouch climbing in bad weather, but the conditions we were facing were getting dangerous fast. I suggested turning around and she came at me with a vengeance at the very thought. She went as far as to call me "selfish" because I "had" the peak and she didn't. I said, I'll come back with you later, she refused to hear of it. At this point it was hard to even hear each other talk. I said I am turning around, I strongly encourage you to follow me, once I do, I'm not coming back. I turned around, last I saw her she was heading up. I called her twice to check on her later and she never answered her phone or called me back. That was the end of our partnership.

 

[peakbagger]

I think the biggest decision she made incorrectly was getting out of the car that morning. At that point she should have been alert, in possession of the relevant information and in control of her emotions and despite all the weather reports she put her backpack on and headed up the trail. She was not compromised by hypothermia at that point. At tree line she was probably still quite alert and coherent and after assessing the conditions she continued on again. At that point the whole thing just snowballed out of control.

I have contended and still do that Ty made a fundamental error in his timeline. I gave the book to a friend but in it the author casually mentioned that breaking Valley Way trail should not have been an issue as there had been a group who broke it out 3 days earlier (sorry if I didnt get the quote exact). I do not feel that was a reasonable assumption. There is distinct microclimate between Upper Bruin and the top of Valley Way where it comes within sight of Valley way. If you look at a topo map, the elevation of Valley Way starts to match the elevation of the Airline to the NW. Any NW wind that is running along the substantially lower RT 2 valley gets caught by the ridge and funneled into Kings Ravine and it then has a rapid change in elevation when it hits the headwall below Airline. This can and does create snow fall that frequently lands in the upper Valley Way even though there is no trace of snow in the valley. Since I can see this area from my home office I frequently see snow showers up in this area even on a sunny day. Being local I on occasion have been the first person up this trail in the morning in winter and its not unusual to be able to bareboot up to Upper Bruin and have to put snowshoes on for the last stretch to the hut. In some cases this may be minor but more often the snow can build up in the trees leading to 2 to 4 feet of powder in this stretch. I contend that its more likely than not that the assumption that the trail being packed down 3 days earlier meant it was not an issue that day was incorrect. Adding 2 to 4 feet of powder in a decidedly steep section of trail would introduce the deadly combination of much higher exertion and "swimming" in deep powder. The down climbing suit would potentially be wetter and the hiker already on the edge of hypothermia prior to arrival at the hut. I am not the only one that has encountered this last minute stretch of unexpected deep snow I have encountered, several other hikers who frequent the Valley Way in winter that I have talked to all have noted this phenomena.

If the point of poor decision making is shifted earlier prior to the Madison climb, that means that any sort of break at the hut would have caused a loss of body heat and the rapid onset of hypothermia.

 

[DayTrip]

I have contended and still do that Ty made a fundamental error in his timeline. I gave the book to a friend but in it the author casually mentioned that breaking Valley Way trail should not have been an issue as there had been a group who broke it out 3 days earlier (sorry if I didnt get the quote exact). I do not feel that was a reasonable assumption. There is distinct microclimate between Upper Bruin and the top of Valley Way where it comes within sight of Valley way. If you look at a topo map, the elevation of Valley Way starts to match the elevation of the Airline to the NW. Any NW wind that is running along the substantially lower RT 2 valley gets caught by the ridge and funneled into Kings Ravine and it then has a rapid change in elevation when it hits the headwall below Airline. This can and does create snow fall that frequently lands in the upper Valley Way even though there is no trace of snow in the valley. Since I can see this area from my home office I frequently see snow showers up in this area even on a sunny day. Being local I on occasion have been the first person up this trail in the morning in winter and its not unusual to be able to bareboot up to Upper Bruin and have to put snowshoes on for the last stretch to the hut. In some cases this may be minor but more often the snow can build up in the trees leading to 2 to 4 feet of powder in this stretch. I contend that its more likely than not that the assumption that the trail being packed down 3 days earlier meant it was not an issue that day was incorrect. Adding 2 to 4 feet of powder in a decidedly steep section of trail would introduce the deadly combination of much higher exertion and "swimming" in deep powder. The down climbing suit would potentially be wetter and the hiker already on the edge of hypothermia prior to arrival at the hut. I am not the only one that has encountered this last minute stretch of unexpected deep snow I have encountered, several other hikers who frequent the Valley Way in winter that I have talked to all have noted this phenomena.

If the point of poor decision making is shifted earlier prior to the Madison climb, that means that any sort of break at the hut would have caused a loss of body heat and the rapid onset of hypothermia.

That's a good observation and I would agree she may have been less than 100% in her decision making at tree line, which just further reinforces why you simply don't go out on days like that. The margin for error is just too small even for the best hikers. As soon as she went over the snow bank in the Appalachia parking lot the odds of success were very low.

 

[Mike P.]

What peakbagger described would explain why when I've been up there that the very top of VW is so full of snow that the turn out of the drainage just below the hut is so obscured by snow that the trail often just stays in the drainage straight up to the hut. Before it begins to melt it's not a big deal, as it begins to rot from underneath it becomes an issue as far as getting wet.

To bring it back to this incident, has there been an update? The Union Leader article I saw online mentioned it was updated, however, it seems just to be the F&G news story

 

[Grey J]

While it's awfully nice to have a mountain to yourself, it may not be a good sign that you are the only one(s) attempting your hike on a given day. While the stories in Gagne's two books are different in many ways, this aspect was quite similar. Very few ventured out on either of those days and the few who did had enough sense to bail out at or below treeline. In both stories, the plan was unrealistic given the (extreme and deadly) conditions. It's a shame that two people died and a third suffered grievous injuries but they certainly won't be the last.

 

[Mike P.]

While it's awfully nice to have a mountain to yourself, it may not be a good sign that you are the only one(s) attempting your hike on a given day. While the stories in Gagne's two books are different in many ways, this aspect was quite similar. Very few ventured out on either of those days and the few who did had enough sense to bail out at or below treeline. In both stories, the plan was unrealistic given the (extreme and deadly) conditions. It's a shame that two people died and a third suffered grievous injuries but they certainly won't be the last.

I was the only one outside on LeConte at Cliff Top when I did it, The remnants of Hurricane Dennis kept the bugs and people away or in the hut. That I guess would prove your point.

It does get harder to do though, I must have had 15 to 20 friends for Sunrise over Half Dome from Sentinel Dome when I was out there in 2016 and that required a 4:00 AM entrance into the South Gate. (I got in at 3:00 determined not to miss it and waited at Washburn in the dark) I don't recall company on Windham on a Friday in early December with a pre-dawn start. (Starting in Utica and needing to shower at the gym back in Hartford and being in the office by 1:00 was the reason why the alpine start in the Catskills)

Midweek in late fall when other than the grid hikers, there is no reason to do a hike that feels like winter and if you're a peakbagger counts just like summer. Staying off list hikes or at least the 4K list, may help. My first Martha trip was in early winter on a Friday afternoon with a start that got me to the top for sunset and great lighting on the snowcapped Presidentials. Descending in the dark in the winter, with headlamp of course isn't really for the novice though.

Wrapping up my solo 48 on the Tripyramids in a cool heavy June rain a few years ago mid-week where I only saw the ranger probably proves your point too. Unless you hike at night, not during a full moon, if you are out on a Saturday and don't see anyone, your lost in the woods someplace.

 

[skiguy]

The flying expertise of The Pilot and the Helicopter Team in this rescue and also The Osborne incident is amazing. Just another day at the Office?Not really. Gagne really nails it home in “The Last Traverse” just what it takes. Not to mention them coordinating the tasks with F&G and Mountain Rescue.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

The flying expertise of The Pilot and the Helicopter Team in this rescue and also The Osborne incident is amazing. Just another day at the Office?Not really. Gagne really nails it home in “The Last Traverse” just what it takes. Not to mention them coordinating the tasks with F&G and Mountain Rescue.

I just read The Last Traverse this weekend (hey, it was too cold for my liking) and I agree -- the Black Hawk 031 crew arc was gripping. Not to take away anything from the other groups involved (NHF&G, MSR, PVSART, ...) but I think I (we?) hear about these guys more than we do about the NHARNG. The skill and nerves required to keep the bird atop Little Haystack on one wheel in 60+ winds with gusts in low-vis, super cold weather is unbelievable. The pilots state that was the hardest mission they have ever flown. And, as a result, they now carry additional cold-weather survival gear on the chopper for future similar missions.

Tim

 

[hikerbrian]

Great comments here. Regarding Matrasova, I still think the fundamental issues were 1) She simply did not know how bad it could get up there, that conditions sometimes are simply not survivable; and 2) Her 'push forward' instinct was stronger than her survival instinct. I don't recall definitive evidence that hypothermia played a role in her decision making. The photo of her after summiting Madison showed signs of frostbite, but we're speculating on hypothermia at that point, right, and whether that impacted her decision making? Correct me if I'm forgetting some details.

I concur regarding that stretch between upper Bruin and Madison hut. We were waste to chest deep with snowshoes on a couple years back. Absolutely brutal. Had to pack down the snow in front of us with our arms before every step just to be able to get a snowshoe on top of it. The requisite effort ultimately sank our traverse attempt that particular year.

Appreciate the comments from you ultra-fit trail runners. My feeling is that trail running is like soloing in winter. It's not fundamentally unsafe, you just have to modify your risk assessment. Back to the story, I too thought I'd heard it all, but one of them lost both shoes and they kept going?? What in the holy crap was going through their minds at the moment the shoe(s) came off?? Did he lose both at the same time, or were they separated by some time? How much effort did they put in to finding them? I have so many questions...

 

[peakbagger]

In my opinion with respect to the trail runners and lost shoes, they were drifting into hypothermia once they got out in the wind, they didnt know it and their higher logic functions were already impacted. At some point their survival response kicked in and they headed down hoping to get out of the wind on what is the most windy spot on the ridge.

 

[DougPaul]

Many without local experience also underestimate the weather in the Whites. After all, the tallest peak is only 6288 ft--how bad can it get? But as those with local experience know, the weather in these molehills can be as bad as that found in much higher ranges.

Doug

 

[OldEric]

We were waste to chest deep

Yuck. Off trail?

 

[egilbe]

Yuck. Off trail?

I wouldn't drink from Star Lake...lots of waste

 

[sierra]

Many without local experience also underestimate the weather in the Whites. After all, the tallest peak is only 6288 ft--how bad can it get? But as those with local experience know, the weather in these molehills can be as bad as that found in much higher ranges.

Doug

This is a very good point. I grew up hiking in the Whites, it was all I knew before I went out west. One of my first big climbs in Yosemite was Mt.Dana (13,003 ft.). On the day of my climb, there was 4 inches of fresh snow on the mountain and the mountain was in the clouds, winds were around 20mph, temp around 20F. Roughly halfway up, I ran into three separate parties turning around, all stating that conditions were not good. At that time, I thought they were pretty good. I sat and tried to evaluate the conditions and couldn't come up with a legitimate reason to turn around. I summited alone and the clouds lifted while I was on the summit. I descended in the sunshine and it was a wonderful hike. At that point in my career, I had about 45 solo winter ascents of Washington, not a bad education. CA climbers have nothing on New England climbers.

 

[hikerbrian]

Yuck. Off trail?

Ha! Saw that after I posted, and I'm not editing because I'm just not. I mean, I've heard the Whites are pretty bad this year...

 

[richard]

Many without local experience also underestimate the weather in the Whites. After all, the tallest peak is only 6288 ft--how bad can it get? But as those with local experience know, the weather in these molehills can be as bad as that found in much higher ranges.

Doug

I agree with this. I suppose Matrasova figured the same thing, since she probably considered it a simple hike & climb compared with what she’d previously accomplished.

 

[egilbe]

Just came across a facebook post where a group of pemi-valley hikers headed up Lafayette, encountered these two coming back down. They told them to follow their snowshoe tracks back out and they were 10 minutes from treeline.

 

[Mike P.]

Just came across a facebook post where a group of pemi-valley hikers headed up Lafayette, encountered these two coming back down. They told them to follow their snowshoe tracks back out and they were 10 minutes from treeline.

Interesting, ten minutes below treeline or above?

If above, in fog and wind, the path may have been obliterated. if below, were they above the hut? Did the group come up OBP or Greenleaf, The two were found in the Lafayette drainage which would mean they either lost the trail above line, not that hard in fog and wind and blowing snow or maybe if the group came up OBP and the duo were headed to Cannon by Greenleaf they lost the trail. (The article said they were doing the loop so I suspect the former.)