KD Talbot
04-11-2008, 08:06 PM
Please use extreme caution if planning a trip to Tuck's this spring! From the Berlin SUN
Skier injured in Tucks on the way to recovery, say friends
Gail Scott
PINKHAM NOTCH— The skier injured in an icefall in Tuckerman Ravine Wednesday has had surgery to mend his head wounds and has been released from the hospital, say friends who came to his rescue.
The injured man, Adam Hudson, of Bolton Valley, Vt., was one of some 15 skiing professionals who had converged on Tuckerman Ravine on Mount Washington when the Bolton Valley Ski Resort, of Bolton Valley, Vt., shut down the season, said Dan Wilcox, 30, who lists his address as Bolton Valley
“As soon as our season is over, we head for Tuckerman,” said Wilcox. “It’s our end of the year break.”
Wilcox said the group had converged behind Lunch Rocks at the edge of the main cirque to wait for the snow to warm in the sun before beginning their ski day on Wednesday, having been camping in the ravine since Monday. Lunch Rocks is a well-known feature to Tuckerman Ravine skiers. Wilcox said they understood that would be the safest place to wait.
When the warming sun loosed an icefall “one chunk came through the Gun Hole of Patrol Rock,” said Wilcox, speaking of Tuckerman Ravine’s Lunch Rock features named over the years. “It was a 12 to 15 pound chunk of ice.”
Hudson was hit full in the face. The ice ripped open his nose, exposing a nasal passage, said Wilcox. The ice appeared also to have “blown one pupil,” he said.
Some of the skiers had with them their professional rescue kit and an emergency medical cache is stowed by the U.S. Forest Service at Lunch Rocks. The group immediately went into rescue mode, said Wilcox, packing the wound and carrying Hudson to a second cache in the Ravine where they found a litter to belay Hudson to the Hermit Lake hut, where the Forest Service was able to take Hudson and speed him via snowmobile to Pinkham Notch where an ambulance picked him up and transported him to the Androscoggin Valley Hospital.
Wilcox said it had taken the group just an hour and a half from injury to the ambulance, glad to have been able to swiftly muster all their professional skills to help save a friend.
Hudson’s wounds were so severe that he was air transported to “Fletcher Allen,” said Wilcox. Fletcher Allen Health Care has a Division of Plastic, Reconstructive, and Cosmetic Surgery, according to its Web site. The facility is affiliated with the University of Vermont College of Medicine in Burlington, Vt.
Wilcox said that he understood that Hudson was treated immediately and was discharged from the hospital Thursday.
But he didn’t expect Hudson to join the rest of the Bolton Valley group as they move on to skiing in the Adirondacks.
“There will be a lot of swelling to deal with,” he said, regretfully. “He (Hudson) probably won’t be back until next (ski season).
Meanwhile, the rest of the crew goes on to ski until the end of a time they can find snow in the Northeast, missing Hudson.
“The snow pack is unbelievable this year,” said Wilcox.
KDT
Skier injured in Tucks on the way to recovery, say friends
Gail Scott
PINKHAM NOTCH— The skier injured in an icefall in Tuckerman Ravine Wednesday has had surgery to mend his head wounds and has been released from the hospital, say friends who came to his rescue.
The injured man, Adam Hudson, of Bolton Valley, Vt., was one of some 15 skiing professionals who had converged on Tuckerman Ravine on Mount Washington when the Bolton Valley Ski Resort, of Bolton Valley, Vt., shut down the season, said Dan Wilcox, 30, who lists his address as Bolton Valley
“As soon as our season is over, we head for Tuckerman,” said Wilcox. “It’s our end of the year break.”
Wilcox said the group had converged behind Lunch Rocks at the edge of the main cirque to wait for the snow to warm in the sun before beginning their ski day on Wednesday, having been camping in the ravine since Monday. Lunch Rocks is a well-known feature to Tuckerman Ravine skiers. Wilcox said they understood that would be the safest place to wait.
When the warming sun loosed an icefall “one chunk came through the Gun Hole of Patrol Rock,” said Wilcox, speaking of Tuckerman Ravine’s Lunch Rock features named over the years. “It was a 12 to 15 pound chunk of ice.”
Hudson was hit full in the face. The ice ripped open his nose, exposing a nasal passage, said Wilcox. The ice appeared also to have “blown one pupil,” he said.
Some of the skiers had with them their professional rescue kit and an emergency medical cache is stowed by the U.S. Forest Service at Lunch Rocks. The group immediately went into rescue mode, said Wilcox, packing the wound and carrying Hudson to a second cache in the Ravine where they found a litter to belay Hudson to the Hermit Lake hut, where the Forest Service was able to take Hudson and speed him via snowmobile to Pinkham Notch where an ambulance picked him up and transported him to the Androscoggin Valley Hospital.
Wilcox said it had taken the group just an hour and a half from injury to the ambulance, glad to have been able to swiftly muster all their professional skills to help save a friend.
Hudson’s wounds were so severe that he was air transported to “Fletcher Allen,” said Wilcox. Fletcher Allen Health Care has a Division of Plastic, Reconstructive, and Cosmetic Surgery, according to its Web site. The facility is affiliated with the University of Vermont College of Medicine in Burlington, Vt.
Wilcox said that he understood that Hudson was treated immediately and was discharged from the hospital Thursday.
But he didn’t expect Hudson to join the rest of the Bolton Valley group as they move on to skiing in the Adirondacks.
“There will be a lot of swelling to deal with,” he said, regretfully. “He (Hudson) probably won’t be back until next (ski season).
Meanwhile, the rest of the crew goes on to ski until the end of a time they can find snow in the Northeast, missing Hudson.
“The snow pack is unbelievable this year,” said Wilcox.
KDT