Tuckerman incident

Damn! That's Doug Millen, who runs neice.com. He broke his wrist earlier this year... he's not having a good year.

Glad he is ok. When I broke my leg, I was only a little over two miles from the closest road and it was like 70 degrees out. I do not even want to think about breaking a leg (or what ever his leg injury was) while solo in Tucks in winter conditions. OOOFA-MAMMA.

- darren

" It is never a good idea to climb alone" man why do they always have to say that, drives me mad Im willing to bet more people get hurt when they are with people then solo. Oh, glad the dude's alright either way.

Sierra, I'm sure they mean that a partner could go for help. Remember Aaron Ralston!

sierra said:

" It is never a good idea to climb alone" man why do they always have to say that, drives me mad Im willing to bet more people get hurt when they are with people then solo. Oh, glad the dude's alright either way.

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Don't forget that officialdom mostly only sees accidents.

Also, if one brings all the recommended safety gear, you will be safer because it will be too heavy for you to get out of the parking lot...

Doug

Also, if one brings all the recommended safety gear, you will be safer because you it will be too heavy for you to get out of the parking lot...

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Doug, you made me laugh out loud.

Glad he's ok!

I'm also glad to hear Doug is OK. I met him at the Festiglace' Ice Climber's Festival in Canada two years ago, and he's a really nice guy, quite a climber as well. He even passed up a few free lodging invitations so he could camp with the rest of us yahoo's at -40° for 2 nights.

I'm sure Tucks was just a walk in the park to him, but even in the park you can trip occasionally.

At least he was well prepared!

Earlier today giggy posted a link to the avalanche reports for Washington, and in that report was a reference to an ankle injury. As I recall, the report said it occurred because the person had not removed their crampons prior to glissading. Is this the same injury as outlined above? If so, was the person really glissading with their crampons on, or did they fall?

Kevin Rooney said:

Earlier today giggy posted a link to the avalanche reports for Washington, and in that report was a reference to an ankle injury. As I recall, the report said it occurred because the person had not removed their crampons prior to glissading. Is this the same injury as outlined above? If so, was the person really glissading with their crampons on, or did they fall?

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More info from today's Conway Daily Sun:

11/7/2006
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Crews rescue Massachusetts man with broken leg in Tuckerman Ravine
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David Carkhuff
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MOUNT WASHINGTON—A middle-aged man descending in Tuckerman Ravine on Mount Washington Saturday afternoon severely broke a leg when his crampon caught in the ice, rescuers reported.
The victim of the injury was a 50-year-old man from Gloucester, Mass., who was mountaineering and ice climbing alone, according to N.H. Fish and Game conservation officer Brian Abrams.
"He was traversing down into Tuckerman's, he came down onto the headwall, he slipped on some ice, and his crampon caught and he broke his (left tibula and fibula) just above his boot," Abrams said.
Abrams, Mark Hensel and Mark Ober responded for N.H. Fish and Game.
"The gentleman had been high up on Mount Washington, was glissading down and broke his leg," said Joe Lentini with EMS climbing school and Mountain Rescue Service.
Glissading, which is sliding down a slope on your posterior, can be dangerous; doing it wearing crampons, the spikes worn on boots for traction on ice, results in 10 to 20 injuries each winter on Mount Washington, Lentini estimated.
"You never do it with your crampons on, because if they catch, that's the low point of resistance, and that's how you break bones," he said.
Appalachian Mountain Club, Mountain Rescue Service and N.H. Fish and Game cooperated in the rescue. The victim was identified by the N.H. Union Leader as Douglas Millen.
Lentini said he was called at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, and he and Mountain Rescue Service personnel, including Alain Comeau, Steve Larson, Chris Noonan, Tim Martel and Travis Piper, arrived in freezing, wintery conditions.
The victim of the broken leg apparently was alone but well equipped, carrying a sleeping bag, Lentini said.
"He was very well prepared, so even though he had this accident, he was able to keep himself warm," he said.
Still, a hiker that witnessed the accident reported that the break was dramatic.
"From more than 100 feet away, it sounded like a gunshot," Lentini said.
Rescuers lowered him over 900 feet and slid his litter all the way down to Pinkham Notch.
"We got him down to Pinkham by 12:30 at night," Lentini said.
The man was traveling by himself, but somebody saw him and alerted a couple of other hikers, urging the hikers to go down and call for rescue services, Lentini said.
Bartlett-Jackson Ambulance transported him to The Memorial Hospital in North Conway, Abrams reported.
"In the bowl, there was probably two feet of snow in areas," Abrams said.
"We are absolutely in early winter in the high mountains so don't plan on being able to follow summer trails safely," warned Brian Johnston, snow ranger with the White Mountain National Forest. "Trails going through ravines and gulfs are buried with snow in many areas and require winter gear, i.e. winter clothes, ice axe, crampons, avalanche beacons, shovels, and probes. Remember to never glissade with your crampons on. Another person broke their leg on Saturday due to this very common and very preventable mountain injury."
The summit received 6.3 inches of new snow from Nov. 1-5 accompanied by westerly winds that blew some of this snow around and into the ravines, according to the avalanche advisory for Tuckerman and Huntington ravines posted at 7 a.m. Sunday.
Tuckerman and Huntington ravines are located in the Cutler River Drainage on the southeast shoulder of Mount Washington. This area is extremely popular with skiers, climbers and hikers. Each year over 70,000 people will visit the ravines.
Ironically, on Saturday, the Mount Washington Observatory staff hosted the first winter trip from the Eastern Mountain Sports Climbing School.
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Bill and KR, thanks for those posts. We should all read and heed. Just say "no" to glissading with crampons!

Happy Trails

Climbers helping Climbers

Thanks for the posts with news articles on this one. Very interesting to see some of the names mentioned in this rescue. All of these rescuers have been around awhile and are very experienced in these types of situations...let's hope that they pass the torch to others that are worthy of this kind of deed.Glad everyone is OK.

U R There

Click here for a cool video of conditions on the mountain last weekend.

This is in Huntington's.


cb

pilgrim said:

More info from today's Conway Daily Sun: 11/7/2006

<report snipped>

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Sierra:

Note that none of the moutaineering rescuers are quoted as saying that one should never hike alone...

Doug

caution

Years ago (the White House was occupied by a former general) when I first climbed Tuck in the winter, a worrried PNC (not PNVC) employee warned me, "Tuckermans is very dangerous. You shouldn't go there unless you've been there before." (?!)...So I went so I could go again.

hope doug is Ok - he runs a very good site (NEICE) and is certainlly very skilled. I don't know him personally, however know he has done some pretty tough climbs and likely knew his recusers very well!

wish him the best

Huge kudos to the rescuers. Those people make a difference in the world.