Fatality on Mt. Guyot

[Rhody Seth]

Hiker Recovered from Mount Guyot

An hiker lost his life this week on Mt. Guyot. A bad area to run into trouble. My condolences to his family.

 

[NHClimber]

That's way out there. And if you do the Bonds from Zealand, you are effectively crossing each of Zealand, Guyot and Bond twice (plus Bondcliff and West Bond once).

 

[DayTrip]

Really didn't seem like the weather to be out in that area, even for an experienced hiker (the article stressed he was well known and experienced but did not add well equipped). Of course, that always seems to be the case in these unfortunate events. It would be nice (but impossible of course) to know what the decision making process was in the early moments of these trips and as things worsened.

 

[peakbagger]

This is tough one, given he was triple crowner (AT PCT and CDT) and an experienced ultra trail runner including a Direttissima
he was not inexperienced. Definitely a case where we can hope that there is more information released. Even tougher is he leaves a 2 year old son behind. There is a go fund me https://www.gofundme.com/f/christopher-roma

The Lincoln NH weather was not recorded as extreme on Tuesday but degraded significantly overnight into Wednesday. My guess is the recent storms that have dropped a lot of snow yet changed to rain down low leading to lower accumulations may have led to the assumption that snow depth in the eastern Pemi was not that deep in the backcountry and at elevation the snow depth may have been much higher leading to slow progress breaking trail with a resultant higher than expected energy expenditure. Most of MLK weekend was not great for backcountry activities so backcountry trails like those leading to Guyot probably were not broken out.

It is really easy to get damp breaking trail through deep powder leading to mild hypothermia and the first thing that goes with hypothermia is clear thinking. Given the timing, he would have had to have had significant extra gear with him to survive an unplanned bivy overnight into the next day that few folks these days carry. I wonder if there are some parallels with Kate M?.

 

[NH2112]

That’s why any time I’m out in the mountains here, day hiking or snowshoeing, I carry a pack with appropriate sleeping bag, pad, 2P tent, stove, 1-2 days food, thermos of hot drink, extra clothes, and down jacket/pants/booties. Along with the 10 essentials, of course. You never know when you’ll run across someone in trouble. It‘s far more likely to be a snowmobiler here, though; I’ve never seen anyone else on foot in the winter who wasn’t with me.

 

[CaptCaper]

Again my 2 cents. I wouldn't of gone up there Tuesday. What for? Weather looked bad. These folks don't see that. Blinded by the desire.

 

[Tom_Murphy]

I was struck by the similarities with Ken Holmes in '04. Same age, same time of year, same area, both experienced and fit hikers, both reached out to friends via cell phones...

From the reports at the time, Ken had the typical winter gear appropriate for his planned itinerary of solo winter overnight backpack and the weather conditions (extremely low overnight temperatures) exceeded his gear / expectations.

I expect this gentleman had the appropriate gear for a winter day hike and the scenario peakbagger laid out above occurred.

 

[Tom_Murphy]

Again my 2 cents. I wouldn't of gone up there Tuesday. What for? Weather looked bad. These folks don't see that. Blinded by the desire.

Some hike for the physical challenge, so bad weather is seen as an opportunity.

Completely different scenario but i will be camping out in my backyard this weekend BECAUSE of the expected single digit forecast.

 

[Andrew]

I was struck by the similarities with Ken Holmes in '04. Same age, same time of year, same area, both experienced and fit hikers, both reached out to friends via cell phones...

From the reports at the time, Ken had the typical winter gear appropriate for his planned itinerary of solo winter overnight backpack and the weather conditions (extremely low overnight temperatures) exceeded his gear / expectations.

I expect this gentleman had the appropriate gear for a winter day hike and the scenario peakbagger laid out above occurred.

I always think about Ken when it gets really cold, and I had been meaning to check the date; 20 years almost to the day for Chris' moving on....

I heard a chopper moving fast over my home on Wednesday while clearing snow, they seem to fly up the powerline and head due east to the mountains over Bethlehem, and I often suspect something is unfolding.

I spend a lot of time outside in the winter doing all sorts of things like menial mechanical tasks with bare hands, heavy sweat labor, or simply standing in one spot for extended periods like a fool staring into the forest while thinking deeply. It brings you familiarity with the subtle effects of the cold on your mind and body and hopefully can provide a clue to a warning signal if needed. Just last nite, I was standing out there hungry and thirsty knowing I should go inside, but instead I was formulating how I should commence some menial snow removal task that was not necessary; so I stopped and analyzed this thought and had enough of a mind to realize my thought was flawed probably due to a lowering core temp. I went inside. I had been thinking about and evaluating clothing while working/ hanging outside over the past couple days, and really was noticing the difference in my core warmth with very simple things like if my jacket was fully zipped to the collar, was my inner fleece collar pulled up and warming the blood passing through my neck, are my pockets zipped close and the difference in the cold sneaking in if not? This made me think about the differences between modern cold weather gear as opposed to the old fashioned like the Filson wool I was trying to convince myself to wear more often yesterday.........and how it could be that you could die from a very simple thing like being unable to zip up the puffy down coat or the pockets if my hands are frozen....or if the zipper jams like kept happening to me on Wednesday. I had been thinking about this before I heard what happened to this gentleman this morning.

We are ALL going to die. Although very unfortunate for the timing for him and his friends and most importantly family, good for him that it happened in the setting he loved, doing what he loved, and from what I am to understand, not the worst way to go- except for the pain he may have realized that he could not return to his son. Bless you all on your journey.

 

[NHChris]

I was surprised at the timing of events:

1. First communication with the victim was not till around 10 PM at night. What had been going on with him from sunset at 4:30 until that time? Was he trying to self-rescue somehow?

2. It took rescuers 15 hours to reach the scene. In a case like this did they use snowmobiles or ATVs on the Lincoln Woods trail? Could they have used motorized transport to get to the Zealand hut and have a shorter approach?

A very sad and tragic start to the new year. RIP fellow tramper.

PS Forecast for this weekend predicts coldest temps so far this Winter for New England.

 

[Ear Drum]

A very sad loss. My condolences to his friends and family. And thanks to the SAR teams and rescue workers.

Hopefully some more details will come out eventually so that others may learn from the tragedy.

 

[JoshandBaron]

That's way out there. And if you do the Bonds from Zealand, you are effectively crossing each of Zealand, Guyot and Bond twice (plus Bondcliff and West Bond once).

He was reportedly attempting a single day Pemi loop

 

[peakbagger]

That’s why any time I’m out in the mountains here, day hiking or snowshoeing, I carry a pack with appropriate sleeping bag, pad, 2P tent, stove, 1-2 days food, thermos of hot drink, extra clothes, and down jacket/pants/booties. Along with the 10 essentials, of course. You never know when you’ll run across someone in trouble. It‘s far more likely to be a snowmobiler here, though; I’ve never seen anyone else on foot in the winter who wasn’t with me.

"Fast and light" seems to be the standard in the whites, my guess is if you open up the packs of hikers heading into the backcountry most folks would fail the test if they needed to overnight bivy. That area of the Pemi is about inaccessible as it gets in the whites and as the National Guard attempts proved, a chopper is not always going to make a difference. I think the temptation is to go light as 99.99% of the time, folks do not need it. Even if they have it, they need to recognize that they are going to need it and in solo situation few do.

I try to rationalize my gear with the assumption that I am a "fair weather hiker" and pick my days. Those caught up in checking boxes on an application form, or trying to make a cool blog posting may not. My personal belief is a solo person with no family ties has a right to die where they want but that right has to be tempered with the reality that he had a young son who will be impacted for the rest of his life by his deceased father's decision. I think that tends to trump checking a box on a list or making a cool blog post.

With respect to NH Chris's question, Cell coverage in that area of the whites is not great. Cell signals are effectively line of sight and there is a distance limitation. The radio Hams on the board could comment more on the details. I have heard from several sources is if in doubt text as that has a far higher chance of being received than a cell call. The ancient ring dike that forms the Pemi acts as a very good wall to stop cell signals (and other radio communications) from getting into it. The USFS long ago realized that fact and installed the low power solar radio repeater near the top of North Hitchcock to supply radio service into the Pemi. With exception of Cannon and probably Loon and Attitash there are no other high elevation cell towers in the area. Generally, the only cell coverage is on the ridge and we do not know the route the deceased was taking. Yes there are spots with cell coverage but definitely not complete and reliable.

With respect to using motorized vehicles to access the rescue, its legal as long as the FS supervisor gives his/her approval. Logically its far more difficult than many would expect to use snowmachines as modern snowmobiles have been optimized for speed over flotation and generally require a hard crust or groomed trails. My guess is that the deep snow that slowed the crews down was encountered soon after leaving trails that might be able to be snowmobiled.

 

[NH2112]

If I bring just what’s necessary for my own somewhat comfortable survival my pack weight is a little under 30lb. But for another 6-8lb I can bring the stuff needed to help someone else and survive myself while they’re in my sleeping bag. Leaving them in the sleeping bag & tent while I hike out for rescue probably won’t be a good option very often, so I’ll need my down clothing to get through the night.

 

[TEO]

We are ALL going to die. Although very unfortunate for the timing for him and his friends and most importantly family, good for him that it happened in the setting he loved, doing what he loved, and from what I am to understand, not the worst way to go- except for the pain he may have realized that he could not return to his son. Bless you all on your journey.

What's good about dying doing something you loved? I don't see anything good about Christopher Roma's death. His son will never know his father and that really sucks. Hopefully we'll learn what was in his kit.

 

[Andrew]

What's good about dying doing something you loved? I don't see anything good about Christopher Roma's death. His son will never know his father and that really sucks. Hopefully we'll learn what was in his kit.

Very few of us plan our deaths. Unfortunately it is often in circumstances that involve great pain and suffering. I happened to have quite a few people close to me die recently where great suffering occurred. By all available references we have, we are led to believe death through hypothermia may not involve as much physical or psychological suffering. You may have missed the most significant point of suffering that Chris may have realized that I wrote in my post; that "...except for the pain he may have realized that he could not return to his son."

I did not say that it was good that this gentleman died, the fact is that he did. I'm saying that at least it was doing something he loved and from all accounts in a setting that he passionately loved, as opposed to a fiery car crash on his way home.....or something similar.

I guess I'll add that personally that when my son was born 10 years ago, I stopped hiking summits in the winter since I was unwilling to take on this risk to my family with an infant dependent now at home, and still don't to this day as he is still young. This is tough for me as I have been an obsessive winter hiker since my boyhood wishing nothing more in life than to explore the woods and mountains and drawn powerfully by this desire to see and explore constantly. This is now happily relegated to a few acres out back and the recognition that much of this right at hand, but man that pull is so strong nonetheless.
With my son's birth I even requested of my former employer that I no longer do long snowmachine grooming runs deep into the wilds of Coos County, as this I saw as the same level of potential risk. It is almost worse to get out far into the woods with motorized methods since you get yourself so deep in too easily, so if the equipment breaks down you may be farther out than mere ambulation can get you out. I had so many equipment failures in the most remote places, with no cell or radio coverage, and no riders. Luckily I was always able to use my hands to touch and manipulate cold metal at below zero temperatures.

 

[peakbagger]

Here is link to his business website.

https://www.northeasttrekkingcompany.com/read-me

 

[Ear Drum]

WMUR had a brief story about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALPdit1xgBM

 

[BillyGr]

What's good about dying doing something you loved? I don't see anything good about Christopher Roma's death. His son will never know his father and that really sucks. Hopefully we'll learn what was in his kit.

Not that the event itself is good, but rather that most people would prefer having death occur (if it has to) in such a way over getting some of the diseases that people get and spend months or years fading away slowly and sometimes painfully for both the person and others around them.

 

[sierra]

There are so many factors that can contribute to this scenario, it's difficult to put them all in a box, which is what most people try to do on Social Media. Doing a one day Pemi in the winter, means moving pretty fast and burning a lot of calories. Maybe he wasn't at the top of his game? (had a cold, tired) and his body just ran out of gas, that could put him in a state that hypothermia would clearly take advantage of. Most people in this forum get that, no need to dissect those factors, but my point is, a lot can happen on these long and fast hikes. I see ultra fast hikers pass me and my 25 lb pack and don't give it much of a thought, but their margin of error and mine are just not the same. Unlike most hikers, I have been caught out with just a daypack, I spent a night around 14k, temps in the 20's and I was injured. I had plenty of clothes and carry today pretty much what I had back then. No sleeping bag, no stove, no bivi. But, I am fit, know how to conserve energy and monitor my body. I have read and believe that people in survival situations either excel at it or they don't. Many stories of survival leave no rhyme or reason as to how they survived, I think it's will. Just for the record, I'm talking in generalizations here , I'm not second guessing or impugning this poor guy in any way at all. It's really a tragic event, but mountain climbing is inherently dangerous, something everyone needs to remember when they step off the pavement. Prayers for his family.