Another Unprepared Hiker Rescue

[skiguy]

And now Outside Magazine weighs in

https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/exploration-survival/mount-washington-rescue-report/

One guided ascent of Mt Washington apparently makes them expert on things Mt Washington

Outside sold their soul for money years ago. This article is a prime example of taking a non issue and trying to make it one in order to conflate one’s already lame writing career. Maybe he should get in line with all the others that are stacking up their rehtoric in hopes of suing The Cog, The Ob’s, The Autoroad and Finally F&G for slander. Not to mention for creating an attractive nuisance in the first place. Sorry to inform this ignorant scribe but it’s called Mountain Climbing and you might die. It’s not a trip to the ice cream stand and you start to whine when they forget to put sprinkles on top.

 

[DayTrip]

And now Outside Magazine weighs in

https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/exploration-survival/mount-washington-rescue-report/

One guided ascent of Mt Washington apparently makes them expert on things Mt Washington

Outside magazine seems like a kind of garbage-eee publication to me. Articles often have grammatical issues and incorrect references. I find I don't agree with a lot of their conclusions either. Seemed more intended toward generating internet traffic than producing quality journalism.

 

[Yury]

And now Outside Magazine weighs in

https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/exploration-survival/mount-washington-rescue-report/

"rescuers asked the owners of the Mount Washington Cog Railway to fire up the historic steam engine and haul them uphill to his approximate location"

I am curious to better understand education level of Frederick Dreier.

Have they used steam engine or diesel engine during this SAR?

 

[Mountain Thunder]

I get annoyed that people don’t learn from its history. We hiked to the summit from Pinkham one fine August day. The summit was obscured in clouds. The wind was 50mph on Crawford Path; it gusted to 69 at the summit. It was sleeting. WC in the 30s. Return to Pinkham? 85 degrees, hot and sunny. The point? You can NEVER trust the weather on MW. I’ve turned around more than once because the summit sky was black, despite the weather at the base.

 

[Mountain Thunder]

"rescuers asked the owners of the Mount Washington Cog Railway to fire up the historic steam engine and haul them uphill to his approximate location"

I am curious to better understand education level of Frederick Dreier.

Do they use steam engine or diesel engine on Mt. Washington cog railway?

Both. Possibly the writer assumed there are only steam engines?

 

[peakbagger]

"rescuers asked the owners of the Mount Washington Cog Railway to fire up the historic steam engine and haul them uphill to his approximate location"

I am curious to better understand education level of Frederick Dreier.

Do they use steam engine or diesel engine on Mt. Washington cog railway?

Other reports indicated that the Cog had concerns with Diesel fuel gelling when they dropped off the rescuers. The photos shown earlier in this thread of the rescue team in front of a cog engine with the snowblower mounted in front is definitely a diesel. My guess is poor research on the author's part.
The cog does advertise that the cogs use "biodiesel" but it's actually small blend of biodiesel mixed with mostly diesel. Biodiesel traditionally gels at a higher temp than straight diesel but winter diesel is usually a blend of kerosene and diesel.

It is highly unlikely a steam powered cog would be used as it reportedly takes several hours to warmup. The steam engines also go through a lot of water and need to refill their tanks from a trackside water tank which most likely is not in service in winter. The cog keeps steam powered engines for use during the normal non winter season and runs them in the "slow hours" for steam railroad fans. The diesels can run 3 times more guests from top to bottom as they do not have to stop for water.

 

[NHClimber]

I would’ve thought that there are a number of anti-gelling additives out there to deal with gelling of diesel in cold temperatures. Some of those additives can get you quite a ways below zero (like -50 or more). And as PB notes, can also cut with 20-30% kerosene.

 

[NH2112]

I would’ve thought that there are a number of anti-gelling additives out there to deal with gelling of diesel in cold temperatures. Some of those additives can get you quite a ways below zero (like -50 or more). And as PB notes, can also cut with 20-30% kerosene.

The problem is less fuel gelling in tanks and more in filters and lines. Fuel heaters in filter bowls and a salamander pointing at the engine are more than enough to take care of any gelling of fuel that the additive hasn’t mixed with, though. I used to run straight waste Jet-A sumped from our fuel trucks and farm in winter, that doesn’t start to cloud until around -60F. The engine would start to fuel knock at around 60F with much more than 25% Jet-A, though, and by 70F you couldn’t run any at all.

 

[NH2112]

I get annoyed that people don’t learn from its history. We hiked to the summit from Pinkham one fine August day. The summit was obscured in clouds. The wind was 50mph on Crawford Path; it gusted to 69 at the summit. It was sleeting. WC in the 30s. Return to Pinkham? 85 degrees, hot and sunny. The point? You can NEVER trust the weather on MW. I’ve turned around more than once because the summit sky was black, despite the weather at the base.

A friend, her dog, and I drove up one day in Aug 2016, it was 80ish, breezy, and sunny at the base. 60ish & windy at the summit, within 15-20 minutes it was completely clouded in, temp had dropped to the mid-30s, and it was pouring with gusts to 80ish. I didn’t check the forecast so I have no idea if it was a surprise. We took shelter with everyone else in the tunnel between the OBS and gift shop but it was still freezing. It took a couple hours for the weather to clear enough to head down, they’d closed the auto road going up and we’d been talking with some hikers whose ride down was now unable to come get them. We gave them and their dog a chilly ride down, along with 2 others we met about 1/4 mile down.

 

[peakbagger]

The problem is less fuel gelling in tanks and more in filters and lines. Fuel heaters in filter bowls and a salamander pointing at the engine are more than enough to take care of any gelling of fuel that the additive hasn’t mixed with, though. I used to run straight waste Jet-A sumped from our fuel trucks and farm in winter, that doesn’t start to cloud until around -60F. The engine would start to fuel knock at around 60F with much more than 25% Jet-A, though, and by 70F you couldn’t run any at all.

The gelling issues were mentioned in one of the articles as a limiting factor by the cog crew on how long they coud stop. Diesel equipment can be designed to run reliably at very cold temps, adjusting the fuel is the easy method but there are design improvements with the fuel system that can reduce or eliminate the need to do fuel blending. It will cost money to design and install the equipment and it could impose operations constraints during warmer temperatures so its balancing act.

I used to work with a few folks who burned Straight Vegetable Oil that might have a gel point of 50 F, they had lots of home brew fixes to fuel gelling when the engine was running, they started the engine on regular diesel and let it warm up to the point that that the coolant was hot, they then used the coolant to preheat the SVO and in some cases the fuel lines and the SVO tank. Once that was in place they would flip switch and run SVO. They key was a few minutes before the end of the drive they had to switch back to diesel for a few minutes or the only way the car might start up again in cold weather was tow it warm garage.

A friend, her dog, and I drove up one day in Aug 2016, it was 80ish, breezy, and sunny at the base. 60ish & windy at the summit, within 15-20 minutes it was completely clouded in, temp had dropped to the mid-30s, and it was pouring with gusts to 80ish. I didn’t check the forecast so I have no idea if it was a surprise. We took shelter with everyone else in the tunnel between the OBS and gift shop but it was still freezing. It took a couple hours for the weather to clear enough to head down, they’d closed the auto road going up and we’d been talking with some hikers whose ride down was now unable to come get them. We gave them and their dog a chilly ride down, along with 2 others we met about 1/4 mile down.

Today is another one of those days, warm last night and even not that bad this AM and the summits are in blue sky. The trade off is the winds are cranking up all day and temps are dropping. The OBS has a severe wind chill warning until tomorrow. If someone gets in a little trouble, they get in big trouble real quick.