Hiker Rescue in the Pemi

http://www.unionleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20151223/NEWS07/151229629

He used a Spot to call for help. I wouldn't expect the bill to be that high given the limited resources used.

Good call trying the bushwhack to avoid the crossing and not pressing on once it didn't pan out. The fisherman bushwhack can be pretty confusing even without incipient hypothermia, lots of little rivulets that may or may not be on the map. Maybe not the smartest day to be out but otherwise pretty savvy. Hope he's recovering well.

The conditions he was out in are the worst, imo. It's easier to be out in winter conditions, then that cold never ending rain. You have to be great with clothing combo's to stay ahead of it to stay dry and warm. Frankly, I'm past hiking in those conditions. I read the story, from what I gather, I'm not sure charging him is called for, maybe I'm wrong. I just don't want to cross that line, where someone needs help due to just an unfortunate cumulation of factors and gets a bill shoved into his face. I mean he did the right thing setting up camp to help himself get warm, so he had gear with him. Maybe he missed that window, where you go from shit, I'm cold, to shit, I'm hypothermic.

jniehof said:

Good call trying the bushwhack to avoid the crossing and not pressing on once it didn't pan out. The fisherman bushwhack can be pretty confusing even without incipient hypothermia, lots of little rivulets that may or may not be on the map. Maybe not the smartest day to be out but otherwise pretty savvy. Hope he's recovering well.

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Indeed. Rarely see someone equipped and making sound decisions in these posts. Refreshing. Bad call doing that hike on a rainy day without checking river levels but at least he had the good sense to avoid the crossing and chance drowning.

I wonder how the conservation officers were able to warm him before hiking out?

sierra said:

The conditions he was out in are the worst, imo. It's easier to be out in winter conditions, then that cold never ending rain. You have to be great with clothing combo's to stay ahead of it to stay dry and warm. Frankly, I'm past hiking in those conditions. I read the story, from what I gather, I'm not sure charging him is called for, maybe I'm wrong. I just don't want to cross that line, where someone needs help due to just an unfortunate cumulation of factors and gets a bill shoved into his face. I mean he did the right thing setting up camp to help himself get warm, so he had gear with him. Maybe he missed that window, where you go from shit, I'm cold, to shit, I'm hypothermic.

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I would like to see if they say he was expected to stop and try and make a fire before calling in.

Remix said:

I would like to see if they say he was expected to stop and try and make a fire before calling in.

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I had a similar event happen to a buddy of mine years ago, when my hikes were similar to a death march. We were climbing Carrigan in the spring. No snow at Desolation shelter, but deep up on the mountain. My bud got wet in his inferior clothes and by the time I realized he was hypothermic, it was late. We just turned around and got back to the shelter. Frankly, a fires nice but I just got him in a SB and fired up the stove. Hot liquids is the key, he sipped hot drinks and 1 hour later he was good to go in some dry clothes. It happens fast. If it's raining out, forget the fire, get in your shelter and fire up hot liquids and food and get in dry clothes.

Years ago a friend and I got into the early stages of hypothermia during the summer. We had cotton on and hiked up over Carrigain from Desolation in a driving rain storm. We were shivering pretty severely but managed to set up a tarp and get in our sleeping bags. We started cooking every liquid we had and it didn't take that long to be able to function again.

sierra said:

Hot liquids is the key, he sipped hot drinks and 1 hour later he was good to go in some dry clothes. It happens fast. If it's raining out, forget the fire, get in your shelter and fire up hot liquids and food and get in dry clothes.

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I was recently thinking about this type of scenario and ordered myself an insulated stainless steel water bottle that is supposed to keep a liquid hot for up to 8 hours. I'm planning to use it as a first line of defense, with JetBoil being the second (in combination with my insulated water bottle so that I could ration hot liquid to myself over time.)

I'm quite worried about cold/freezing rain - rain gear is not very effective for me because I tend to sweat quite a bit if hiking in challenging terrain and then I get wet anyways.

iAmKrzys said:

I was recently thinking about this type of scenario and ordered myself an insulated stainless steel water bottle that is supposed to keep a liquid hot for up to 8 hours. I'm planning to use it as a first line of defense, with JetBoil being the second (in combination with my insulated water bottle so that I could ration hot liquid to myself over time.)

I'm quite worried about cold/freezing rain - rain gear is not very effective for me because I tend to sweat quite a bit if hiking in challenging terrain and then I get wet anyways.

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My water set-up in the winter is this. One Nalgene bottle filled with warm water in one of those soft bottle insulators clipped to my pack. My backup water is a large thermos with hot water in a pre-heated thermos. My thermos will keep it very hot, till I get home. As I deplete my canteen, I slowly add the thermos water so it can cool and I have ready water. The other nice thing about carrying hot water is, I carry a ziplock bag containing, hot chocolate, cup a soup packs and maybe some tea bags. Nothing beats a hot drink on a cold summit.

Those condions are the worst. Give me ten below anytime over 35 and rain. The second to last line of the article is misleading and is perpetuating a misconception about HikeSafe cards. People seem to think you will not get charged with one but will get charged without one. Not quite.

Hot drinks are key in winter...and amazing for your mental state as well when feeling cold. I carry a vac bottle as well filled with hot tea in winter.

I pulled out a stove twice yesterday on a hike of Adams. Totally not needed since it felt like September, but stopping for a couple hot cups of coffee on the hike was nice.

sierra said:

I had a similar event happen to a buddy of mine years ago, when my hikes were similar to a death march. We were climbing Carrigan in the spring. No snow at Desolation shelter, but deep up on the mountain. My bud got wet in his inferior clothes and by the time I realized he was hypothermic, it was late. We just turned around and got back to the shelter. Frankly, a fires nice but I just got him in a SB and fired up the stove. Hot liquids is the key, he sipped hot drinks and 1 hour later he was good to go in some dry clothes. It happens fast. If it's raining out, forget the fire, get in your shelter and fire up hot liquids and food and get in dry clothes.

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Yes, hot liquids especially plenty of sugar, carbs, and free-of-caffeine can help for a little while.

I was assuming he tried that and even had dinner (as he had a tent and gear for an overnight). I assumed that the root cause was wet hiking layers, making him reluctant to try to walk out the next day. All speculation, for sure.

Wish NHFG would publish the reports...Ok with names redacted...as an informative tool. In past cases they have cited "judgement" as a source of negligence; it would be interesting to get this more fully defined.

Raven said:

Those condions are the worst. Give me ten below anytime over 35 and rain. The second to last line of the article is misleading and is perpetuating a misconception about HikeSafe cards. People seem to think you will not get charged with one but will get charged without one. Not quite.

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A cardholder will only get charged if that person were reckless and intentionally created a rescue scenario. Without published reports, the boundary between recklessness and negligence is fuzzy.


"A person acts negligently when he or she acts in such a way that deviates from the way a reasonable person would act under similar circumstances.
A person acts recklessly when he or she engages in highly unreasonable conduct, involving an extreme departure from ordinary care, in a situation where a high degree of danger is apparent."

Remix said:

Yes, hot liquids especially plenty of sugar, carbs, and free-of-caffeine can help for a little while.

I was assuming he tried that and even had dinner (as he had a tent and gear for an overnight). I assumed that the root cause was wet hiking layers, making him reluctant to try to walk out the next day. All speculation, for sure.

Wish NHFG would publish the reports...Ok with names redacted...as an informative tool. In past cases they have cited "judgement" as a source of negligence; it would be interesting to get this more fully defined.

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That's a great idea and could be very educational to new or novice hikers to learn from. When I started out and then into my technical climbing day's, I loved the journal know as '' Accidents in North American Mountaineering" It was a book of many accidents complete with descriptions of what went wrong and in some cases why it did. For a budding climber as I was, it was a rich text of what I was potentally up against out there. A valuable way to learn from real life accidents. The Fish and Game could do the same thing and have experts comment of what went wrong and how to avoid it. They have made strides towards education of hikers but a lot it focuses on rescues and the consequences of. I think getting out in front of accidents and rescues is key to prevention. In the long run, I believe they could save the F@G money by education in many forms.

Remix said:

Wish NHFG would publish the reports...Ok with names redacted...as an informative tool.

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The AMC does this, in some respect, twice a year in the journal Appalachia.

I guess it all depends on whether or not they think considering those crossings after days of rain is reckless <tongue in cheek>

Having just been out to OH about a week ago, the larger crossings are not my cup of tea at even 150cfs on the Pemi gauge.

My guess is that he crossed the river the day before and fell in on the way back.

Glad he is okay!

We did Owls Head on Monday, the 21st, and met this fellow on our way out, at the Liberty Brook crossing. He was pleasant and friendly and said his plan was to set up camp and climb Owls Head the next day. He asked if we had done the big river crossings (coming in via Franconia Brook Trail) which he said were quite treacherous. We said no, we did the Black Pond bushwhack. He said he was "not familiar with that route," so we spent a few minutes describing routes and options. (We also discussed the Brutus route up OH since he appeared unfamiliar with the potential for dangerous ice on the slide. It is unclear whether he actually summitted or not on Tuesday.)

He pulled out a wholly inadequate "map" which looked like something he picked up at the Lincoln Woods ranger station but, after I said his map was bad (I actually used those words), he did say that he had a better map in his pack. We attempted to show him on his "map" the Black Pond bushwhack option as he expressed an interest in avoiding the big stream crossings on his way out the next day. We do not know whether he had a compass or GPS.

At this point we started to get an uneasy feeling about this guy--maybe it was the SPOT device conspicuously dangling from his pack coupled with his naiveté w/regard to climbing OH. I asked "You do know about the RAIN in the forecast, right?!" He replied "Yes, but I have a waterproof tent." We parted ways as he was putting on 'spikes in order to manage the icy rocks of Liberty Brook.

As with what seems like too many folks we meet in the Whites lately, this encounter left us with that niggling "I hope he's all right" feeling. But what can you do?? The next afternoon, as the cold rain continued to fall, that feeling continued as I mentioned to my husband a couple of times "I hope that guy's okay..."

Waterproof tent but maybe not raingear?

Stinkyfeet said:

Glad he is okay!
At this point we started to get an uneasy feeling about this guy--maybe it was the SPOT device conspicuously dangling from his pack coupled with his naiveté w/regard to climbing OH. ..."

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I'm curious, why would the SPOT add to the uneasiness you felt? I only ask because mine is always "conspicuously dangling" from my packs shoulder strap.