Anybody know any details ?
from the AP
"a hiker was found dead in New Hampshire’s White Mountains, where temperatures fell to minus 45 and the wind chill approached minus 100. Friends said the middle-aged man had been outdoors since Monday.
He was well-equipped, including a tent and a stove, but “in these extreme temperatures, it’s not always going to cut it,” said Fish and Game Department Lt. Robert Bryant. "
andre
Under those conditions it would only take the slightest mistake, get slightly too hypothermic and it can be impossible to come back. This could happen to anyone, even the most experienced.
Blue Jay
in that extreme; pitch your tent out of the wind if u can; get into your tent; into your bag with your clothes but don’t sweat; and stay put. wait out the storm. use snow and stove to make water. stay put and if your friends and family know you are out there they will notify the authorities who will search for you as soon as they can. try and rig a signal (something orange if u’ve got it) but dont move. most people think they can walk out. It’s not that bad. I’ve only got a few miles.
Stay put. wait for help. wait it out. you can go days without food and a few without water. keep yourself warm and in shelter. And Pray ( I’m not terribly religious but between writing last letters to my family I’d be praying too).
Big Boy
My first thought when hearing this story in the news was, what in the world is someone doing out there? In New Hampshire, in January, alone? With the weather forecast what it was? A number of bad choices were made here, with the unfortunate results of death. A little common sense goes a long way toward self-preservation.
Jonna
Apparently he was a ranger at Monadnock. He should have know what to do. I wonder what happened.
There are plenty of reasons to be out in the whites in Jan alone. One is to train for a major expedition. Mountaineers do do this stuff. They’s why they sell -40F bags.
Gravity Man
Gravity Man
Good question. Apparently this was an experienced outdoorsman. A NH State Forest Ranger. And he had appropriate gear with him. The article said he was found on the Twinway. I suspect that it was along that section above treeline. Now, exposed above treeline when it is -45 degrees, plus the wind chill factor is no place to be in the first place. He probably could have survived had he gotten off the ridge and below treeline. He’s not the first to die from poor judgement in extreme conditions.
Peaks
An intelligent person does not go out walking at -45 degrees below zero. Must have been a real important reason for this guy to have been out there.
At those temperatures, your spit will freeze before it hits the ground. Your face will freeze instantaneous on contact with the air, hands also, etc.
And especially you do not go out by yourself at those temperatures.
Now if you are artic equipped with full heavy duty parka, face mask, etc. etc. then it might be okay to go out. But to go out, and to climb up on top of a mountain. Well as said above, mistakes were made and I sort of believe the first one was going out in the first place.
See you out there, but not at -45 degrees.:cheers
Maintain
I read the story via the link above.
There is no information as to what the weather conditions were when the ranger started out; only that temperatures dropped radically after he decided to linger alone for one final day.
Given that, we really don’t know what decisions the ranger made.
Lets get the facts before we judge him.
Conan
Ive been in 12 below and that SUCKED!! Two sleeping bags,one inside the other. I wouldnt even want to be exposed to 40 below for any length of time.
Virginian
It seems like a poor judgement call by the ranger. Ofcourse we dont know all the details… but stopping before the tree line and setting up camp would most likely have kept him alive. I just understand how someone with so much experience could have done something like this. You hear of people doing foolish things, but they are usually the tourists hiking in cotton.
guru
Might be a suicide similar to Guy Waterman the famous mountineer that killed himself up around Franconia. Read about him in the book by Chip Brown called “Good Morning Midnight”.
Ka-bar
Has anybody considerd the fact that mayby he was depressed(comon in winter)and wanted to die in the outdoors?Kind of a indirect suicide?Actually Ive heard freezeing to death(or close to it)was just like getting extremly tired and never waking back up.If I was in that situation and wanted to survive…I’m guessing there probably was a lot of snow around and snow makes a excelent insulator(just ask the inuit).If you can make a snow cave or at least insulate your tent walls with snow you would greatly increase you survival chances.Then again -40f is pretty frickin cold and you couldnt make too many bad choices and expect to live.
Newb
since he had been out for a period of time with others and elected to stay another day solo he wasn’t aware of the pending weather change and it caught him by surprise…some of my best trips are complete disconnects from news of any kind from the ‘real’ world.
tombone
One only has to look at the wall of deaths atop Mt Washington to understand the harshness of the White Mountains…One should never take these great Mt.'s for granted…they were tuff enuff in August!
Lost Sailor ga2000me
Don’t know what caused him to stay out in that stuff, but he could have not known about the weather change and it caught him unexpected. Let’s not judge this guy since we don’t know ourselves all the facts. Who hasn’t been out and caught by something unexpected, bears, weather, snakes, roots(I’m great at trail dancin, unexpected that is). I’ve been rained on a few times when I thought it would be perfect weather. I’m from the north, Pa and NY and spent 11 years in North Dakota. I don’t think he was out there unprepared for the weather he thought he would experience. :tongue
Chug Chug
Don’t know what caused him to stay out in that stuff, but he could have not known about the weather change and it caught him unexpected. Let’s not judge this guy since we don’t know ourselves all the facts. Who hasn’t been out and caught by something unexpected, bears, weather, snakes, roots(I’m great at trail dancin, unexpected that is). I’ve been rained on a few times when I thought it would be perfect weather. I’m from the north, Pa and NY and spent 11 years in North Dakota. I don’t think he was out there unprepared for the weather he thought he would experience. :tongue
Chug Chug
I am from MA and lead hikes in the Whites all the time. Twinway is about two miles from Galehead Hut (closed) but he might have made it to Zealand Hut (open). He apparently had the experience and the equipment so I’m inclined to think something went wrong or he decided to go into the mountains to die.
Twinway is not exposed (although high up there). South and North Twin are exposed and the descent is over three deep brook crossings which may or may not be frozen. He probably felt trapped and Twinway was his only recourse for survival hiding in the firs.
Two things I’d like to say…the Whites are unpredictable. A friend died in an avalanche two years ago at Tuckerman’s Ravine. There was no way to predict this.
…There are other people hiking at this time of year, as reported by Bryant, and although they are taking their own lives into their hands, they are taking the rescue teams lives into their hands as well. The rescue team reported in the article that the recovery expedition was brutal because of the windchill and subzero F temps. They had to hike in to get the body. No place to land a helicopter.
gumwood
You’re right, Chug Chug. Let’s not judge this guy. It’s like criticizing a guy who comes in from freezing weather and trys to play a piano concert with stiff fingers, while we are all warm and cozy in the concert hall. Anyone who has experienced or observed hypothermia knows about the sluggishness of intellect as well as body. Newb, I’ve been there and barely survived. People made the same uninformed speculations about me. They were false. I was simply a young guy with a lot of confidence who got into a situation that was more than I could handle. Death from hypothermia is not like in the movies. You don’t just go to sleep. It is a miserable experience. Frequently it is the heart attack from the cold blood in the extremities reaching the heart that kills you. That’s why it is important to very gently handle a hypothermic victim during a search and rescue. May God our Father receive Kenneth R. Holmes in love. May his family know that he died in a place that he probably loved very much. May we respect the death of a fellow hiker in a place that we too love.
Bulldog