Three Monadnock rescues

I've always found it amazing that there aren't tons of incidents like this on Monadnock. With all the ledge and scrambles on many of the trails combined with the volume of hikers it sees, many who are often not equipped for the conditions, you'd think this would happen all the time in the shoulder seasons. There are several spots that are pretty tricky in wet or icy conditions.

DayTrip said:

I've always found it amazing that there aren't tons of incidents like this on Monadnock.

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I slipped and dislocated my pinky there, while wearing spikes. The same day I saw several just wearing sneakers. Just shear luck I'd say, that there aren't more serious, slip and falls.

I was up Thursday and there was just a hint of ice, and knew with the incoming weather on Friday and Saturday and cold weather behind it, snow and ice would move in, possible until Spring so I didn't post a trail report on NETC figuring my saying there was virtually no ice might be taken as a reason to go. With the summit rescues, I'm curious if they thought of airlifting them. Hopefully all were not hurt much and recover quickly.

According to one news report a helicopter could not be used due to weather conditions.

Daytrip makes a great point and I'm wondering if a more proactive approach might be taken. Perhaps a few signs at the bottom, describing the potential for ice and the requirement for traction devices. There are way to many people who show up to that hill, that clearly do understand the conditions they will encounter. I mean they could sell or even rent Microspikes right at the wardens house and make a few bucks in the process. I know a lot of people scoffed at the sign at the beginning of the Huntington Ravine trail, but correct me if I'm wrong, we don't hear about many rescues up there since that installment, coincidence? It's impossible to educate the general populace about mountain travel, they just don't frequent the sites where you could, but educating at the source might be a worthwhile proposition.

I agree with sierra's point: warning signs at trailheads and before you reach the dangerous places seem to get the attention of your target audience better than broadcast appeals (not that they should be abandoned). Look at the alpine zone signs in the WMNF and other places. They are part of a strategy to focus the awareness and thus the choices hikers make. Messages i.e. signs, non-verbal clues like scree wall and barricade, website and guidebook write-ups, summit and trailhead rangers, etc. A positive appeal on what and why to do something. seems to work at least with most people.

Maybe something like this...

One of my favorite mountain memories continues to be from my one and only (winter) hike of Monadnock 20 or so years ago. Wasn’t too terribly concerned about conditions and hiked on up the White Dot trail in jeans and three season hiking boots. Had crampons but didn’t bring them. About halfway up the mountain, I was greeted by three gentlemen hiking downhill looking like they had just stepped out of “Into Thin Air” … full blown expedition regalia. I politely stepped off trail into thigh deep snow to let them pass as they warned me to “be careful.” Perhaps we were a good example of over-preparedness versus under-preparedness but the brief scene was absolutely ridiculous. It was a little slick up on the summit cone but no big deal really. I’ve always believed that fitness and youth trump almost everything else in the mountains. Have either one of those things on your side and you’re probably good, have both on your side and you’re golden. Having said that, I know nothing of the demographics of those rescued on Sunday, but I’d guess they probably fell within the normal template of what you see in terms of mountain rescues in these parts.

I think the state could let a concessionaire set up a rental microspike booth at transition from woods to rock . I have hiked it once in the spring (its a long drive for short hike for me) and my general observation was a lot of folks needed traction and few had it. I routinely see similar issues heading up OBP on Lafayette in the spring. Plenty of folks who should have traction just rolling the dice that they can work around it. Generally they can go up around the icy bits far easier than heading down.

Puma concolor said:

One of my favorite mountain memories continues to be from my one and only (winter) hike of Monadnock 20 or so years ago. Wasn’t too terribly concerned about conditions and hiked on up the White Dot trail in jeans and three season hiking boots. Had crampons but didn’t bring them. About halfway up the mountain, I was greeted by three gentlemen hiking downhill looking like they had just stepped out of “Into Thin Air” … full blown expedition regalia. I politely stepped off trail into thigh deep snow to let them pass as they warned me to “be careful.” Perhaps we were a good example of over-preparedness versus under-preparedness but the brief scene was absolutely ridiculous. It was a little slick up on the summit cone but no big deal really. I’ve always believed that fitness and youth trump almost everything else in the mountains. Have either one of those things on your side and you’re probably good, have both on your side and you’re golden. Having said that, I know nothing of the demographics of those rescued on Sunday, but I’d guess they probably fell within the normal template of what you see in terms of mountain rescues in these parts.

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My first time on Monadnock was probably 1988, and involved deciding to hike up the White Arrow with sleds and bomb down the upper ledges in any drifted crevices we could find with little regard to our or any potential rescuers safety; youthful ignorance was bliss! At one point two or three well suited and geared mountaineers made their way towards us and tried to caution us. We were not very bright or reassuring with our responses and the gentleman just said something along the lines of "You guys are freaking stupid and gonna hurt yourselves, and we are getting the hell out of here so we don't have to eventually deal with you." I feel a little bad to this day.

When I worked for the state at Monadnock from 1993 to 2008 we started to and always developed a line of traction aides to carry for sale at the park store. It started with what was commonly available at the time and we sold cheap instep crampons and even brought in some Grivel G-10's for sale. The we added Stabilicers and higher quality insteps to what we offered, and about the time I left Microspikes were starting to be sold. Some of us staff would bring in all our extras to loan out for some circumstances of greater concern, and we always had some through lost and found to loan out. Back then we only staffed on weekends and holiday's from Vet's Day to Patriot's Day, with the required contact point being the HQ Park Store. Midweek days after 2001 the park managers office (Warden Cabin) at the White Dot trailhead often was under the watchful eye of the park manager trying to avert some potential situations by offering up caution on descent (peakbagger is right-on there) or a loan of some spikes. The caution statement being 'You'll be fine going up and picking your way through the ice, but it will be a whole other thing descending. And keep in mind the sun warms this trail on the east side earlier in the day, but later when you are descending water or wet snow may now be ice."

I really don't know how the park is being managed nowadays, but being proactive to identify what was causing so many rescue responses in the past was a cornerstone for years and I saw it's positive effects when effort was made. Remembering that we really could only control use out of park HQ in the winter, we used to actually constantly post signs