Massachusetts Hiker Dies on Mt Washington - 1/10/12

[Brad]

Kathy, blazes seem to be close enough together that in "poor" visibility you can see from one to another. Above tree line you have the rock cairns.

Yes, the N Kearsarge trail goes from Hurricane Mt Road just north of N Conway to the summit of N Kearsarge where there is a firetower. While still in the trees there are open flat rock areas where the blazes are on the flat rocks. In the day time it is easy to follow. In all cases one should study the route before hand and know what to expect for any winter hiking. The fellow we talked to on the day this hiker died had not checked out several things on what he was getting into.

[sdways01]

One thing that I haven't seen mentioned... was he alone? The stories make no mention of how they knew he fell or where to find him.

[Brad]

Yes, he was hiking alone. The caretaker at Hermit Shelter goes outside to check the headwall on a regular basis. He was watching the lone headlamp coming down since it was dark. Whether during his initial check or later it is not clear, but at some point he saw the headlamp fall rapidly. That is when the caretaker called out for the rescue.

[mtruman]

Mike from the State Park mentioned that the last one was in 2010. Not long enough in between.

The fellow we talked to at the summit on Monday was not really aware of the Lion Head Winter trail. And he thought there was shelter at the summit of Mt Washington. After hearing that there was shelter instead at Lakes of the Clouds it seems he went back down. He was planning on going down the Headwall - but that would have been after dark by that time. Lion Head or the shelter would have been better options - or the Auto Road.

Brad - there has been a lot of discussion about the whole situation with this over on VFTT. Questions about how the guy wound up at the headwall, what his preparation was, etc. Do you believe that the person that you talked to on the summit was the one who fell? Sounds like there were other unprepared hikers up there that day too.

There have been other accounts of the incident published more recently including this one in the Concord Monitor on Friday: http://www.concordmonitor.com/articl...94&CSGroupId=1

[Brad]

This is the first article which stated Powers did not have an ice axe. Was that because he did not have one? Or because it fell and was not found? If he did not have an ice axe, then we were talking to a different person. The hiker we talked with had one strapped on the left side of his pack. It also says he got to the summit at noon. The fellow we talked with got there at 1:30pm. I had heard from a contact at the NH State Park that someone had given Powers a treking pole. This article says it was to substitute for no ice axe. My Park contact said the person who gave the treking pole also recommended the hiker go down Lion Head.

I would have to say from this article we did not talk with Powers. The person we talked to was not prepared well and hopefully got down okay.

[Bill O]

thats why during winter i hike from the cog railroad side, a lot safer and no need for crampons

RIP fellow hiker

If you've been up the Ammo in the past year and half you might change that statement.

Probably one of the biggest avalanches in the Whites redefined the landscape there for a long time to come.