High profile rescue in the White Mountains

Franconia Ridge
Originally uploaded by hoverpuma

Saw this today in the Concord Monitor and later my friend Niles emailed a report to me.

Looks like two hikers were up on the Franconia Ridge without heavy winter gear or overnight kit. Twenty four rescuers and a Blackhawk helicopter from the Army National Guard were involved. One hiker, the more experienced of the two, didn't survive the incident.

Here is the Monitor article, and here is the more detailed Forest Service report.

Col. Jeffrey Gray, Chief of Law Enforcement at Fish and Game is quoted as saying,

"Winter hikers should not hesitate to turn back or postpone outings when severe weather is predicted or encountered. Even the best of clothing and equipment may be no match for the severe winter weather often encountered in New Hampshire's White Mountains!"

I've hiked by that spot at least a dozen times, it's scary to think about what it was like up there the last few nights. When I read the article I was reminded of the hundreds of calls I've made as a winter hiker, to continue or to turn back. To bring a certain piece of equipment or not. Then I was reminded of the calls I've made as a trip leader for other people. It's pretty real up there this time of year. My heart goes out to the families of the hikers.

Update 2/13: NECN has video of their coverage here.

Update 2/28: Another rescue took place in the same spot over the weekend. This one had a happier ending. I wonder if this is a usual amount of traffic for this time of year?

Without proper equipment and training?

A recent article in Alpinist makes our local climbing fall in Rumney look like small potatoes when they report this to be the deadliest summer season in the Alps in the last 10 years.

I know that there are different ethics in the Alps, especially as it relates to rescue and in particular helicopter assistance, but come on this is getting ridiculous. Especially when the chief of the Zermatt rescue service says many of the climbers entering the mountains this summer did so without proper equipment or training! The article goes on to say that many of the rescues took place because climbers either "couldn't or wouldn't climb further."

I used to make fun of my friend and former colleague Adam for spending so much money on NOLS courses. My argument went that if he spent all that money on his own trips he could stay out twice as long, wouldn't have to deal with being part of a large essentially guided group and would have learned twice as much. I admit that I was probably at least to some degree wrong - and I'm sure he learned a great deal and was able to go to some amazing locations.

My fundamental principle of mountaineering, the reason I love it so much, is that I am self sufficient. If I'm by myself or with a group, I / we have what we need with us both in terms of food and gear but also in terms of mental and emotional reserves.

Sometimes bad things happen to good people, and then it's amazing to have people willing to help. But when people enter the mountains with the implied understanding that they don't need to be prepared, or responsible for their choices, that's not cool.

I would disagree that lack of equipment and training was to blame in many of the Alps accidents listed above. I would value experience more as a risk management tool than either expensive clothes or courses. As a young outdoors person I can recall many bad calls I made on 3000' peaks or dirty granite quarries that only bruised my ego.

I never would have had the chance to make these mistakes on a course, but they have served me well on later trips where the stakes were higher.

Summer camper falls 50 feet in Rumney

According to this article a 12 year old from a Rhode Island summer camp fell 40-50 feet but suffered only minor injuries.

This article is particularly interesting for me from two points of view - both as an adventure activity and because she was a participant in a summer camp.

Strangely the Fish and Game representative said the safety systems seemed to be working and they had a belayer and a back up. So if everything was working so nicely, what happened?

As Bill brought up in the previous post, this incident will get a lot of attention (as it should) but is that attention in proportion to the actual risk of rock climbing? For example according to this web site, in the 30 minutes that it took the climbers to walk back to the trail head there were 2.18 fatal car crashes in the United States. How well reported were those accidents?

Update: the story has now been picked up by the Boston Globe with some more details.

Further Update: the story has also been picked up by the Manchester Union Leader along with a picture of the litter carry. Now they are saying they suspect the climber unclipped her own rope.

British Risk Management Stats

Bill Stephen over at Bill's Outdoor Learning Blog turned me on to a nice article of stats from our colleagues in the UK. Interesting comparison between adventure activities and auto accidents.

I particularly was interested by this idea:

"Once this is clear, it becomes apparent that much of our work on health and safety is misdirected. Worse, we discover that by avoiding certain activities on the grounds that they are ‘dangerous’ we are inadvertently exposing our young people to much greater risks elsewhere, albeit ones which get less attention from the media."

Risk Management

I was getting ready for our Risk Management Committee and received this reply from Steve at PSU.

"There is always risk, risk in trying, risk in failing, risk in succeeding, the question lies in what risk is educationally just, and which is folly. Which risk could lead toward breakthrough, and which risk only opens up chaos to dance too close?

At the end of the day a dead child lies at our feet can we justify this risk to ourselves and to his or her parents? As the risk takers/educators I believe we are better suited for this job now more than ever and that is simply because we have kids of our own. Outside of our own ego, decision calculations must be made on a daily basis. This critical analysis of the everyday I believe sets us aside from the typical single, no strings attached, adventure person. Why would anyone want someone making critical decisions when they are not attached? Query that, Skywalker."

Great perspective and a humbling one as well.