NH Fish And Game Seeking Help With Missing Hiker

[Andrew]

My wife and I were driving through Twin yesterday morning ~10:30 and saw the blackhawk heading west over the ridge between Twin Mt(s) and Galehead, my thought was wow, looking that far out this early; a good strategy for containment of search areas.
My mind led to 2 tracks, some form of unexpected obstacle on the trail up, like deep snow drifts, causing her to go off trail to get around, possibly leading to injury or lost. The other we are all thinking, dressed light so move fast to keep warm, and everything catches up to her with the ridge conditions when she got there.

On Sunday I got scared out of our woods myself during gathering dusk. When I came in just before 6, I was near my weather station display and a gust roared in and recorded at 30 mph. So those winds were pretty significant even at 'ground-level'.

[ChrisB]

I imagine Misery Ridge would present lots of obstacles to an under equipped hiker. Icy sections, knee deep snow and wind exposure the higher you go. Just getting to the hut would be hard. Did she have micro spikes ?

No mention of cell phone. But what 19 year old does not carry one these days? Why no call for help?

Hang in there kid. They are coming for you….

[hikerbrian]

This does not look good. I poked my head out the door before I went to bed last night (in MA!) and it had that smell and feel to it - winter. All I can think about is that section on Franconia Ridge where everyone turns right to head down Falling Waters, and if you want to continue along the ridge towards Liberty/Flume it's a completely different route-finding ball game. Instant challenge. But how did NO ONE see her the whole day? If she made it that far, someone had to have seen her.

[Rhody Seth]

This whole thing is very strange and sad. I know stories of unprepared hikers are a dime a dozen but here's someone who had hiked most of the 48 so you would think they would have at least a basic idea of what they were getting into on this hike. Sneakers (ie. trail runners), no light and little food/water?

We camped at 13 Falls on Saturday night and came out over Garfield on Sunday morning, encountering a couple hikers heading up as we descended around 11 AM. But if she did head out at 5 AM she could have easily not encountered anyone before she got into trouble. Just a terrible situation and I'm afraid they might not even find her.

[ChrisB]

This whole thing is very strange and sad. I know stories of unprepared hikers are a dime a dozen but here's someone who had hiked most of the 48 so you would think they would have at least a basic idea of what they were getting into…

You would think…. But,

… planning to run the entire ridge from Laffy to Flume under early winter conditions is optimistic. And then what? Descend the icy Flume slide at the end of the long day?

That itinerary is more than a handful.

[peakbagger]

Keep in mind, there was discussion in the past where folks have taken the wrong turn on top of Lafayette and headed towards North Lafayette instead of heading south towards Lincoln. My guess is with the winds funneling up the Lafayette basin from the NW, the hiker would be rapidly hyopthermic and not thinking straight.

[DayTrip]

Keep in mind, there was discussion in the past where folks have taken the wrong turn on top of Lafayette and headed towards North Lafayette instead of heading south towards Lincoln. My guess is with the winds funneling up the Lafayette basin from the NW, the hiker would be rapidly hyopthermic and not thinking straight.

I wondered that myself in one of my previous comments. Given the reputation that wrong turn has I'd think SAR would know that too and sent some people up the Skook and/or GRT to check that route? I think the PVSAR report also mentioned they flew over Garfield/Galehead area - presumably for this reason?? Given the agenda she set out on it just leaves such a huge area to cover over a long time frame and is really working against her. This is a tough one for sure.

[Salty]

My wife and I were driving through Twin yesterday morning ~10:30 and saw the blackhawk heading west over the ridge between Twin Mt(s) and Galehead, my thought was wow, looking that far out this early; a good strategy for containment of search areas.

They've been refueling in Berlin (Milan) the past couple of days. Generally (but not exclusively) they've been sticking to the area between Lafayette and Haystack on the west side, so I expect they searched the ridge since they were in the area.

[ChrisB]

They've been refueling in Berlin (Milan) the past couple of days. Generally (but not exclusively) they've been sticking to the area between Lafayette and Lincoln on the west side, so I expect they searched the ridge since they were in the area.

In my flight monitoring website I can see the Blackhawk working up n down the ridge at 4400 feet and 11 knots. The nexrad radar layer shows heavy snow squalls all along the ridge.

Globe.adsbexchange.com. =web site.

[DayTrip]

Has there been any evidence found to indicate where she may be, i.e. tracks in the snow, trash or whatever? The SAR groups on Facebook really haven't said they have any info whatsoever to narrow the search. Not sure if I missed anything on local NH news, etc.

[JustJoe]

Has there been any evidence found to indicate where she may be, i.e. tracks in the snow, trash or whatever? The SAR groups on Facebook really haven't said they have any info whatsoever to narrow the search. Not sure if I missed anything on local NH news, etc.

There's like a zillion comments on FB about this to read even a fraction of them. One thing that is sort of puzzling to me is, I haven't seen a single post from anyone who did the ridge Sunday that thinks they may have seen her. Nor, I'm assuming, have they received a call from anyone who thinks they may have seen her. Even with the early start, if she made as far as even the hut, you'd think someone would have crossed paths with her. Was it that bad Sunday, that no one would have been out? I did the loop on a questionable day one February and we saw plenty of others.

[DayTrip]

There's like a zillion comments on FB about this to read even a fraction of them. One thing that is sort of puzzling to me is, I haven't seen a single post from anyone who did the ridge Sunday that thinks they may have seen her. Nor, I'm assuming, have they received a call from anyone who thinks they may have seen her. Even with the early start, if she made as far as even the hut, you'd think someone would have crossed paths with her. Was it that bad Sunday, that no one would have been out? I did the loop on a questionable day one February and we saw plenty of others.

I'm not on any FB groups other than the SAR ones. I was referring more to the actual SAR Facebook posts, not the comments by members. They really haven't shared anything. I didn't spend too much time in the actual member comments, which I generally find useless and rapidly annoy me. Those FB comments are just huge amounts of "thoughts and prayers" and "thanks for all you do" stuff with a sprinkling of "hiking alone is stupid and dangerous" and the obligatory retorts. Anyway....

I'd think there would have been some encounters with her too. The last time I did the Franconia loop was in early March on a horrible day where it was in the low 30's, steady rain all day and sustained 30mph winds the whole time. I saw at least 50 people that day. And that was pre-COVID. Things must have taken a turn for the worse pretty early on in the day.

[sierra]

It's possible she got hypothermia quite early in her trek, given her gear selection for the conditions. Hypothermia would drive her off the trails and into a drainage possibly, making any contact with other hikers a moot point. If that is the case, she might never be found. It's amazing the conspiracy theory's floating around on FB, I sincerely hope her mother does not look at the many threads. To me, this is a scenario that has played out many times over the years and I see nothing suspicious or strange about any of it. The mountains this time of year, lull the inexperienced in and they pay a heavy price. The most frustrating part of it to me, is no matter how many times it happens, somebody else falls into the same trap in due time.

[Remix]

Theres a Black Hawk that is just entering the area now.

If you go to adsbexchange.com, select live tracking map, then hit the U button to just show military traffic, you can see its search pattern...(assuming there is adbs coverage)

Edit: at 1504 the track disappeared and now it is back...it may disappear when the aircraft is close to the ground. It was circling halfway between the ridge and Greenleaf, on a line going east-northeast from the hut.

[JustJoe]

It's amazing the conspiracy theory's floating around on FB, I sincerely hope her mother does not look at the many threads.

Seriously. I hate getting into pissing matches on FB but I had to respond to someone's comment about why would a parent leave their child underprepared in those conditions. I simply stated that if she, the hiker, wasn't knowledgeable enough to know she was ill prepared for that hike on that day, her parents most likely would not have known either. Won't go back to see how many asshat"s will have something negative to say about that.