Four climbers caught in second NH avalanche

[Greg]

Four climbers caught in
second NH avalanche
By CAROL ROBIDOUX
Union Leader Staff

A second avalanche yesterday morning at Mount Washington’s Tuckerman Ravine threatened the lives of four experienced out-of-state climbers who had witnessed Friday’s fatal avalanche.

Forest rangers said the four had even helped in the attempt to recover hiker Thomas Burke, 46, of West Springfield, who was killed in Friday’s snow slide.

This time only one hiker was injured as a rush of snow at the floor of Tuckerman Ravine sent all four flying about 100 feet. The snow buried one hiker completely, and another partially, said Christopher Joosen, lead snow ranger at Mt. Washington Avalanche Center.

He said all four are lucky to be alive.

“We see it all the time, people who are good at their sport, be it skiing or ice climbing, but who’ve taken no time to learn about the medium they’re traveling through,” said Joosen.

He said the four had been warned of ominous conditions before attempting their hike yesterday. Rangers posted a high-risk avalanche bulletin after five inches of overnight snow, sub-zero temperatures, gusts of more than 90 miles-per-hour and a visibility factor of less than 100 feet.

Joosen said the hikers, three men and one woman, were Eastern European. The woman was visiting from Europe, while the others were from New York. They were attempting to reach a sluice for a day of ice climbing. The sluice is about 150 yards from Friday’s avalanche site, said Joosen.

After the two hikers buried in snow were rescued by the others, the four walked down the slope to Hermit Lake, about a 15-minute walk, where they were met by snow rangers.

The woman, who had been partially buried in the avalanche, complained of neck pain. She was backboarded and taken to Pinkham Notch and eventually flown to a Portland, Maine, hospital where it was determined she had several fractured vertebrae, said Joosen.

He said piecing the story together was challenging, given the language barrier, but one of the party spoke fluent English. They explained to Joosen that, at first, they thought they had been hit by a blast of wind, or possibly a powder blast from an avalanche.

“A party has to be prepared to do their own rescue. That means wearing the right equipment and following safe travel techniques in avalanche terrain,” said Joosen.

One essential piece of equipment, known as a beacon, can transmit a signal to other hikers in a party. If someone is buried or lost, everyone else in the group turns their beacons to “receive” a distress signal.

He also said avalanche education courses are underused, but readily available to anyone who is interested.

“We post an updated avalanche bulletin everyday at our Web site, www.tuckerman.org, and we encourage people to seek out the information as one more tool to use before deciding if it’s a good day to attempt to hike in Mt. Washington,” said Joosen.

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