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Hiker dies in the Presidentials
- Thread starter FrugalFannie
- Start date
sad. just very sad.
I still remember back in 1994 when three people died on Mt. Washington.
I still remember back in 1994 when three people died on Mt. Washington.
Keeper
NES Member
As others have said this range regularly claims people's lives. Even in the summer people greatly underestimate the difference in weather from base to summit. I consider myself a pretty good hiker and there's no way in hell I'd be in that area in February with a group, nevermind alone.
KBCraig
NES Member
Thanks for being one of the very few commenting on this thread, to have actually studied the reports.
This was less than 20 miles from my house. At the first reports, I was like everyone else: why would she even attempt this?
But then I read more, and found out that she was an extremely experienced winter hiker, and was fully prepared for a day trip. What she wasn't prepared for, was getting into trouble and being able to survive overnight.
She had a PLB, satellite phone, and cell phone.
Hikers have made fatal mistakes going into that same range in August. The hindsight heroes should leave the judgment to the people who really know these mountains, and the experts said she was prepared and equipped. Even the best prepared and the best informed are subject to incomplete information, or incorrect judgement.
Like the book is titled, "Not Without Peril..."
A friend of mine climbed Nt Adams a couple weeks ago. He didn't start out solo but his three buddies bailed. But it wasn't that windy.
You guys suck, she was pretty hot and no pics?
KBCraig
NES Member
Well, she was a blond Russian. Not my type, but nothing I would turn down, either.
Trust the UK tabloids to have all the pics:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...hire-treacherous-conditions-100mph-winds.html
Curtains don't match the rug.
For some perspective on just how crazy the weather can be one day from the next, this is a photo a hiker took on Tuesday, just a day after the recovery. Compare the conditions to the video/photo I posted earlier.
This was going up Adams. Same mountains she was hiking.
This was going up Adams. Same mountains she was hiking.
Detailed article in the Globe today: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/02/21/the-young-woman-and-mountain/SEBPucaGpA1Fun4R5uoj7K/story.html
I can't fathom the conditions the conditions the first SAR faced that night
From the article:
“It was negligent for her to be up there,” Lurie said. The conditions overnight were among the worst he’s seen, he said.
Though she was not a novice — people strand themselves on these mountains in rubber boots and jeans — the truest tests of skill out here are not physical.
“Her decision clearly speaks to her inexperience,” Lurie said.
But her route, Saunders said, “shows she was thinking the whole time.” She aborted her trek and tried to make it back to safety.
“She wasn’t wandering around the mountain,” Saunders said.
I can't fathom the conditions the conditions the first SAR faced that night
From the article:
“It was negligent for her to be up there,” Lurie said. The conditions overnight were among the worst he’s seen, he said.
Though she was not a novice — people strand themselves on these mountains in rubber boots and jeans — the truest tests of skill out here are not physical.
“Her decision clearly speaks to her inexperience,” Lurie said.
But her route, Saunders said, “shows she was thinking the whole time.” She aborted her trek and tried to make it back to safety.
“She wasn’t wandering around the mountain,” Saunders said.
^^^this...RIP...the weather changes quickly up there...the people that do high altitude mountaineering trips are a different breed (watch "touching the void" or "the summit" if you want to get a feel for them)...the difference between their situation and this woman's is they know there is no search and rescue team coming for them and they go in groups...with a few different choices she may still be alive
from the article:
"What had been a mild Sunday morning gave way to hell: According to Weather Now, a website that tracks weather stations around the globe, there was a moment Monday morning when the peak of Mount Washington was the second-coldest measured place on earth, the Conway Daily Sun reported.
The first was a weather station at the South Pole."
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Last week we had that really cold weather, wind-driven snow, low visibility.
Right in the middle of it someone decided they just had to go hiking on a local leg of the Finger Lakes Trail, which goes for miles through completely undeveloped state land and cuts over an occasional roadway.
Family called worried ( of course ) that the hiker was overdue
I really hate those calls regardless of the time of year because the amount of terrain to cover vs number of searchers is so out of kilter. if we didn't have volunteer FD guys helping we'd have no chance.
Anyways in this case the person reappeared before we got all that response spun up, but I was thinking the same thing...who decides they need to go out hiking in -10 F with a visibility due to blowing snow and terrain of anywhere from 5 feet to whatever
like i said in a previous post, she's an experienced hiker, those conditions probably aren't far from out of the ordinary on some of the world's highest peaks, and from what I've read she's done some big hikes. This is no different from base jumping, sky diving etc etc. She knew what she was doing, just unfortunate.
![[smile]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/001.gif "Smile [smile]")
cockpitbob
NES Member
Pilots have an expression:
"In conditions like this the superior pilot exercises his superior judgment so he doesn't have to use his superior ability."
[ie: don't go]
"In conditions like this the superior pilot exercises his superior judgment so he doesn't have to use his superior ability."
[ie: don't go]
