Morbid (but for a reason) question: any stats on NE/National Snowshoe fatalities?

Rocksnrolls and I went out to Mt Martha this weekend. It was my first time on snowshoes and I had a great time. We got started kind of late and I lived up tp my username (slowpoke) so we didn't make it to the top.
But now I am used to my equipment and I know what to expect.

Anyway, my sister tried to call me when my phone was out of range and she was obvuiously worried about me. Without going into her personal life, suffice it to say that her concerns were based on a tragedy (drowning) in the family.

Rocksnrolls informs me that it's unlikely that you would die snowshoeing in New England. I'd like to find some stats that back this up. I googled "snowshoeing fatalities" and a few other similar things but I could not come up with anything.

I'd like to find a chart that shows snowsoeing deaths in the Rockies and Cascades (probably more common) and in the White mountains. I am hoping that this might put her at ease. Any idea where I might find these stats.

- slowpoke

I can't say with certainty that they would keep such records, but you might want to check with the Centers for Disease Control. Sure, snowshoeing isn't a disease (at least in the traditional sense ) but they might keep stats on how people die. Just a thought ...

You also might want to look into general "winter hiking deaths" be that specific to snowshoing might be pidgeonholing yourself as using snowshoes or crampons is all based on conditions but "winter hiking" is generally more available from a statistician's point of view.

Unless, of course, you are actually talking about death by snowshoes ala like a baseball bat...

Jay

Check the accident reports.

Can be found in "Applachia" (AMC) and "Accidents in North American Mountaineering" (AAC, American Alpine Club).

America's Roof http://americasroof.com/index2.php maintains a somewhat random accident list.

Avalanche accidents:
http://www.avalanche.org/av-reports/index.html Also has a list of avalanche centers.
http://www.csac.org/Incidents/

One can learn a lot from reading accident reports. Hopefully enough to keep one from repeating someone else's accident... Much better to invent your own.

Doug

Probably won't help to tell her, but I can think of three winter hiking types that died in the Whites last season. At least one person who posted on the AMC boards did not return from their last trip. Winter hiking seems so peaceful but when things go wrong the consequences can be very high. Not trying to be an alarmist but backcountry travel is inherently dangerous and mistakes and circumstances can cost fingers, toes and sometimes lives. One of the victims last year was a well equipped and very experienced hiker who just did not make it through an un-godly storm. So you can tell your sister what you like but don't convince yourself that what your are doing is without risk. People can and do get hurt and some even die. (I lost a friend on a backcountry trip in '91). Peace and Snow, Tim

Thanks, Tim, for your honest reply. I am not one to take the risks too lightly, I'll continue to be careful. I thought that some stats might help put my sister at ease but perhaps that's not the right approach. I'll just have to take all the necessary precautions and let her know that I am doing so.

I guess I'm not surprised that people die out there sometimes. A year ago I might have set out there to snowshoe wearing cotton and not knowing any better.

going to be the devils advocate here - tim is right tho - there is risk anytime your in the BC and if you choose to do this type of activity - you are in the cold/wind and sometimes far from help.

- but its not a warzone and to be quite frank - I feel safer in the mts than i do driving, working in boston, etc... and I am not one of these "I need to be in the woods types" just have to use your head an listen to your body - as you gain more time out there - this will become easier to understand.

- we should also highlight that the vast majority of folks are successful in these activities. less than 200 deaths (i think) in the whites since mid 1800's - not bad for the amount of folks that venture there. (including all seasons)

- for the amount of folks that do head into the backcountry the deaths and seroius accidents are pretty low. (probably worldwide as well) and may of those in the whites can be traced to falling rock/ice (ice climbers) avalache -(ice climbers and BC skiers) I don't think I have ever heard of anyone dying from simply snowshoeing.

-I would try and convince her that your doing it the right way - starting slow and small, going with other people that have done it before, etc..

and tell people there is very limited cell reception in the whites so don't alarmed if you don't pick up - give a good estimate of when you will be calling to say I am OK.

that beind said - anything can and does happen if your in the wrong place at the wrong time. but I think your better telling her the better aspects of hiking, etc.. - more fit, etc... than the risks!

good luck

Snowshoing in the backcountry does have hazards and can be fatal unless you are aware of what to look for. This is something you can get by experiance, reading and going with knolageable hikers. You generally hear of these accidents over the years and take each one as a learning experiance, they are rare but do happen. If you are hiking packed and public trails, there is a very minimal chance you will ever see any of these traps or hazards in your entire lifetime.

A hiker takes off his snowshoes to take a leak off the trail and sinks over his head in 10' of snow and dies of suffocation.

A group of off trail hikers, one of their members slid into a spruce trap and almost died but the group managed to rescue him.

Again, an off trail member of a group just sinks into a hole where a dead fall created a hollow trap beneath that collapsed as he went over it. The other members managed to pull him out, the snow wasn't very deep but enough to cause great dificulty, if it were deeper and this person were alone the hiker may have been lost till the Spring.

White outs are common hazards where hikers get above tree line and can't find their way back to the trail and get lost.

So is snowshoing dangerous?... Yes it is, so is crossing the street in Manhattan unless you are aware of the dangers and know what to look for.

I generally agree with Giggy--the risks are fairly low if you know what you are doing, avoid risky situations, and are fairly careful. But they are still there.

Winter is unforgiving--mistakes and/or problems can be much more serious than during warmer weather.

* Get your act together on shorter/easier/below T-line hikes.
- It takes a while to learn how your body responds to the cold and how to deal with it.
- Get some experience using your gear and to see if your gear is adequate.
- It takes a while to learn about and accumulate good gear.
* Carry appropriate gear (ie snowshoes and crampons if you might need them). Ice axe and/or hiking/ski poles.
* Be ready to deal with worse conditions than are forecast.
* You should be able to survive an unplanned night out
* Get some instruction either from a guide or attend a winter school. This should help protect you from rookie mistakes
- learn-on-your-own is a good way to make stupid mistakes
- competent leadership on your earlier trips can help
- judgement requires experience--a leader can provide it initially.
- howto books can also help
* Learn to recognize potential avalanche terrain and runout zones and avoid. (This is pretty easy--the hard part is determining the stability of the snow on potential avalanche terrain.)
* Mindset--absolutely vital. Learn to be constantly aware of your environment and status and act accordingly.
* Forget the lists--don't attempt a peak until you are ready for it.

You have a tremendous amount of control over your own risk level: calm and "normal" temps (20F is ideal) vs windy and cold (below 0F), good vs bad weather, cross the stream vs turn back, above vs below T-line, stay on trail vs bushwack (or turn back if you lose the trail), hike with others (hopefully at least as competent at you) vs solo,

The general public does not understand winter, is fed a stream of accident stories (the entertainment-oriented news strikes again...), and thus thinks winter hiking is very dangerous. I, OTOH, feel safer out in the winter woods than I do in the city...

Many of us find winter hiking/sking/climbing very rewarding--put in your time learning how to do it competently and you will be able to do it as well. Many of us feel that the drive to and from the trailhead is more dangerous than the hike itself.

Doug

uh, snowshoeing is not dangerous. in all seriousness, it's not. don't worry. the cliche about drivin' to wherever you're hikin' applies here. now that's dangerous.

Without any hard numbers in front of me, I'd guess that the last 20 years have averaged 1 or 2 deaths per year in the Northeast U.S. This would include winter hiking, backcountry skiing, ice climbing, etc. Some years there are 4 or 5 and some years there are none.

The risk is relatively low, but not zero. Depending on the weather, small mistakes or even bad luck can have serious consequences.

Paul_Bear said:

Without any hard numbers in front of me, I'd guess that the last 20 years have averaged 1 or 2 deaths per year in the Northeast U.S. This would include winter hiking, backcountry skiing, ice climbing, etc. Some years there are 4 or 5 and some years there are none.
The risk is relatively low, but not zero. Depending on the weather, small mistakes or even bad luck can have serious consequences.

Click to expand...

I think the stats may be higher than that. Here's a list of the 135 fatalities on Mt. Washington since record-keeping began in 1849. Leaving aside vehicular accidents, I count 32 fatalities since 1986, or approximately 1.5 per year. Granted, Washington has a higher fatality rate than other mountains, but this is 1.5 per year for a single mountain, not the entire Northeast.

On a different note, it's the lack of snowshoes that has often led winter hikers into trouble.

Waumbek said:

I think the stats may be higher than that. Here's a list of the 135 fatalities on Mt. Washington since record-keeping began in 1849. Leaving aside vehicular accidents, I count 32 fatalities since 1986, or approximately 1.5 per year. Granted, Washington has a higher fatality rate than other mountains, but this is 1.5 per year for a single mountain, not the entire Northeast.

Click to expand...

very true - but you have to remember that washington is a magnet and gets way more hikers/climbers/skiers than other mts (I think). go there in april - its a party!! when I hear of folks getting trouble its either in the prezzies or franconia ridge for NH. I am going to go oput on a limb - but when you throw climbing and BC skiing (like tucks, etc..) into the mix - the numbers gets higher b/c there is way more risk in these activities. - avalanche and falling off off and down gullies seem to really jump out at me.

I guess taking a whizz and falling off trail could kill you shoeing - but sorry - just don't buy it that its even a risk worth worrying about. I would be more scared of having a tree fall on me.

biggest risk for shoeing would be keeping dry, warm, fed, hydrated - winter hiking 101.

Waumbek said:

On a different note, it's the lack of snowshoes that has often led winter hikers into trouble..

Click to expand...

this is a great point - I recall a rescue in franconia in which some hikers didn't have them - lost trail, hit the woods and moved way to slow and had to spend at least one night out - if they had shoes -maybe could have traveled over the deep snow quicker and got out.

one thing I'm deathly afraid of...

how do you know where the trail continues when you're above treeline??

last week I was up in the adirondacks, hiked a couple of peaks that were "above" the treeline, but not drastically above. they were rocky, giant, cascade, and colden. all had clearly apparent landmarks off of which I could use to reunite myself with the trail. how does one hike a peak like algonquin, marcy, or any of the higher NH48 and know where the trail will reappear on the other side? you spend so much time above the treeline, it seems like you'd get out of register with where the trail would start back up. are the cairns very high? I am deathly afraid of venturing too far from the comfort of the treeline until someone can reassure me that I'll actually return!

J&A said:

how do you know where the trail continues when you're above treeline??

Click to expand...

There are a few points here.

A lot of exposed peaks do not have a huge amount of snow, due to the high winds.

Cairns are usually available for navigation.

Sometimes paint blazes are there as well.

Hiking in a group can help you find your way if you spread out and search for the next marker. You can form a loose human chain.

However, you may still find yourself without navigational aids. So what do you do ? The safest thing is to make sure you can still see the navigational aids in front of and behind you when you reach the next one. If you can not do this, you might want to consider turning back. (Note, it can happen that you can see cairn B from cairn A, but when you get to B, cairn A may not be visible anymore! This can occur during a whiteout.) Having a compass, map, and/or GPS available can be very handy. Thankfully, I've never been in a whiteout, but I have been above tree line several times when the conditions were to say the least, not very favorable!

J&A said:

how do you know where the trail continues when you're above treeline??

Click to expand...

Several techniques help:
1. Look back when you pass treeline and memorize what the "entrance" looks like.
2. Look back as you progress--the same trail can look rather different on the return.
3. In situations where the route is not marked by cairns, place (willow) wands to mark the route. Or if you have a GPS, waypoint the entrance.

(Wands can be useful in any realtively featureless area if the fog rolls in or if snow covers your tracks.)

General good navigation practices should be able to get you near the entrance, even if you came up a different way.

Doug

Typically the deaths are the result of hyperthermia, falls or avalanches.

You could snowhoe in avalanche terrain, if you are wearing snowshoes when you should have crampons & an ice axe you could fall. (you could fall wearing the right gear too)

Hyperthermia, more likely to come down with this if dressed inadequately for conditions, out longer than expected & conditions deteriorate (that could just be out over night when tems drop). This could be made worse if exhausted, perhaps from post-holing too long without snowshoes

The 135 is for the Presidentials.

I suspect as babyboomers get older, more people get involved in both hiking & winter activities, you may see an slight uptick in heart attacks similar injuries from overexertion.

Regarding above treeline navigation, familiarity helps, I know teh first coupel fo times I was above treeline in winter the scrub covered in rime looks a lot like cairns covered in rime. If you can't see don't continue. Some places like Cascade, Giant, Liberty, Garfield, (the last two I think technically just bare on top), South Twin, Pierce & some people with lots of experience on other peaks might add a few to this list) are small enough areas that you they (IMO) would be hard to get lost on using some common (is it common) sense.

(Okay except for the two ADK peaks, I've been on the others at least 4x each so that familiarity bit really helps.)

When it appears to be too easy, is when trouble begins so never taking the day & conditions (the mountains & yours) lightly is a good start.

You asked the question backwards.

Snowshoeing is perfectly safe. The issue is where you go.

I'll bet there are more casualties on alpine skis than on nordic skis and snowshoes combined. Part of that may be there are more downhill skiers but part of it is that it is inherently more dangerous because of the speed and because you're more subject to someone else injuring you. Besides, it's not the snowshoes that are dangerous (unless you get stuck in the backcountry with failed equipment), it's the conditions under which they're used and that part of it is pretty much under your control.

J&A said:

how do you know where the trail continues when you're above treeline??

last week I was up in the adirondacks, hiked a couple of peaks that were "above" the treeline, but not drastically above. they were rocky, giant, cascade, and colden. all had clearly apparent landmarks off of which I could use to reunite myself with the trail. how does one hike a peak like algonquin, marcy, or any of the higher NH48 and know where the trail will reappear on the other side? you spend so much time above the treeline, it seems like you'd get out of register with where the trail would start back up. are the cairns very high? I am deathly afraid of venturing too far from the comfort of the treeline until someone can reassure me that I'll actually return!

Click to expand...

It's best to hike trails like this first in the summer and have some familiarity with them before you try them in winter. If you get caught in whiteout conditions above treeline, though, you can become disoriented even when you know a trail well. You really do need excellent map and compass skills to navigate then. Don't rely solely on any navigational aid that uses batteries. It's best to start practicing m&c in the summer and making it a regular part of your hiking routine so that it's automatic under stressful conditions--high winds, cold, low or no visibility.