Fatality on Little Haystack Saturday 2/13/16

Channel 9 TV reported a brief news item this morning regarding a fatality on Little Haystack yesterday. It was reported that a 60 year old hiker succumbed while hiking with others. Problems with cell phones were also mentioned. Does anyone have additional information?

Mike said:

Channel 9 TV reported a brief news item this morning regarding a fatality on Little Haystack yesterday. It was reported that a 60 year old hiker succumbed while hiking with others. Problems with cell phones were also mentioned. Does anyone have additional information?

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http://www.wmur.com/news/hiker-dies-near-summit-of-mountain/37989924

Hiker Fatility - Saturday on Mt Haystack

http://www.timesunion.com/news/arti...collapsing-new-summit-of-mountain-6830044.php

Mike said:

Channel 9 TV reported a brief news item this morning regarding a fatality on Little Haystack yesterday. It was reported that a 60 year old hiker succumbed while hiking with others. Problems with cell phones were also mentioned. Does anyone have additional information?

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I'm 67 and wonder if this will come to pass for me some day... don't matter I've had a great life and will take it doing one of the things I love to do. It was freezing that day and that makes it harder coupled with the snow and ice..and he was in a group..pressure to keep it up or going so the other folks don't freeze waiting? who knows...only the group that day knows the story.
Best to get physicals often..keep your body free of drugs,alcohol as cold and booze don't mix for one. Exercise during the week.
I mean they have ultra sound that will look at your arteries and tell you if your heart is flowing blood proper. Also was he on medications for anything? Drinker? our minds are still "21" years old in spirit but are bodies aren't. At this age things can change in one day.

Hiking with a passion

I have often had the same thoughts and long ago made some pretty specific plans. I am 76 and stay in pretty good shape considering my age. currently I am planning my third trip to the Spanish Pyrenees this coming summer and will be hiking solo as usual. Some of my days will be pretty strenuous but I take it slow with frequent zero days between hard climbs. As usual I begin daily workouts about six months prior to leaving. This winter I started on January 20th. My daily workout consists of 30 minutes at 5 to 6 kph on a treadmill. After the first 30 days I will be switching to wearing my Limmers on the mill. Thirty days later I will add my backpack to the regime. Once Spring arrives I will move the sessions to the trails and mountains accessible from my yard and then in June I will decide if I will be physically able to make the trip and reserve my flight from Boston to Pamplona. I am a widower with grown children who are used to my solo backpacking in Europe. I carry notarized instructions for cremation "if necessary" and shipment of my dust back to the US. When I die I hope to do it on a trail but hopefully it won't be too problematic to those who recover the corpse. My first solo overnight was in New Hampshire, on top of Mount Major, Alton Bay during the summer of 1953 and I'm not quitting yet.

Here is a copy of my planned itinerary:

From what I understand, he had a heart attack. This is a random event and can happen to anyone regardless of conditioning and or heavy exertion. I commend his teammates for bringing him down, very commendable. As far as myself, after a life of hiking, I really don't care to die in the mountains. I'll take going to sleep in my own bed and not waking up.

Not sure if the picture uploaded, but this is how I want to go.

Tuck

Not me, I don't want SAR to have to come out on my behalf to retrieve my body. And then they send the bill to my family... ?

Tom Rankin said:

Not me, I don't want SAR to have to come out on my behalf to retrieve my body. And then they send the bill to my family... ?

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Perhaps someone can correct me if I'm wrong (Sardog?) but I thought no bill if a fatality. ??

And I'm with you Tom. I would prefer that no one have to retrieve my body. I read somewhere recently that when told of a hiker's death on the trail the older gentleman hearing the news said he was envious of his death. Food for thought I guess.

I understand the expressions of people who say that's a nice way to die, but is it really? I hope someday that one of his friends (or the group) will let us know what the experience was like for them. I wouldn't want my friends/family to have to go through that with my remains. It's going to be tough enough on them, or at least I hope it will be.

Interesting comments. What are your thoughts about the Andean tradition of "sky burials". Kind of appeals to me, but has a bit of "ugh factor". I have often thought that the way Guy Waterman finished his life journey would be a way to go, especially if stricken with a terminal medical condition. I think I would take a bottle of Single Malt as a co-conspirator, and only winter would suffice.

"Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice."

Our Homeboy, R. Frost

They do Sky Burials with Bone Crushers in Tibet and the surrounding areas. I just finished reading the novel "The Abominable" by Dan Simmons (audio book, really; 24 cds of fascinating details on climbing in the mid 1920s) and the act was brutally and fascinatingly described. I had said when I trekked in Nepal two years ago, that if I died while there, do what is done locally. Do Not bring my body home. What a waste of money.

Tuck said:

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Not sure if the picture uploaded, but this is how I want to go.

Tuck

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If you have ever been an observer to the kind of an event that this picture evokes it is a humbling experience. If this is the way you want to go I hope you are at peace with it. Personally I would not wish the experience upon anyone for any reason.

erugs said:

They do Sky Burials with Bone Crushers in Tibet and the surrounding areas. I just finished reading the novel "The Abominable" by Dan Simmons (audio book, really; 24 cds of fascinating details on climbing in the mid 1920s) and the act was brutally and fascinatingly described. I had said when I trekked in Nepal two years ago, that if I died while there, do what is done locally. Do Not bring my body home. What a waste of money.

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Most of the bodies of people who die climbing Everest are still there. Some are even landmarks now, like Green boots cave.

Yes, because it is a very difficult thing to move them at all. Some have been pushed into a crack or off the edge, such as the Purple Princess.

Joe Ely wants his ashes stuffed in a shotgun shell and shot over Texas (at least in a song). Wilie Nelson sings roll me up and smoke me. I heard about a guy in Kentucky who wanted to be buried standing up with a bottle of bourbon his his hand. Some other guy was buried in a huge casket because he was claustrophobic. One thing they all had in common is they were there to make the choice. So be careful in those mountains and come back and have it your way.