Teen lost at Sugarloaf

[gmcunni]

You sure he didnt? May not have been any signal up in Maine.

Think they said his battery was dead.

i had the impression from some early reports that he didn't have one but i could be wrong.

 

[Angus]

I've hiked in the summer to the summit via the AT from the road the kid was found on. At the summit and heading down parallel to the trails, there is a 4-8' clear cut that I've been told is intended to serve as a boundary line for the ski resort. I'm not sure how far down it runs but one can assume he entered the woods down from summit. Down below the Timberline lift, the woods are pretty thick.

Young man got really lucky, all the local boston stations have been reporting how bad the weather was...but a low of 18 degrees in early March is warm at Sugarloaf. Like a lot of things in life, it's not the first mistake made that gets you killed but the compounding of bad mistake followed by another bad decision followed by another. He seems to have made one poor decision and thought very clearly once he realized he was in a pickle.

 

[SIKSKIER]

I have a little issue with this.First,what the hell are you doing on the last run of the day going off alone into unknown terrain?The snowfields are not a place to be in bad visability unless you are very familiar with that area.Second how could he get to the western(back) side of the mountain without heading way off the usual direction?Again,why would you attempt this alone,on a last run?Lastly,I'm glad he's ok but it bugs me that he's getting this heros welcome home in Mass after doing something pretty dumb imo.

 

[ceo]

He might not have had cell signal. Coverage is pretty spotty around there if you don't have LOS to the tower on the summit.

 

[timm]

I have a little issue with this.First,what the hell are you doing on the last run of the day going off alone into unknown terrain?The snowfields are not a place to be in bad visability unless you are very familiar with that area.Second how could he get to the western(back) side of the mountain without heading way off the usual direction?Again,why would you attempt this alone,on a last run?Lastly,I'm glad he's ok but it bugs me that he's getting this heros welcome home in Mass after doing something pretty dumb imo.

Agree on all counts.

 

[gmcunni]

i was looking at a map of the area, the road he was found on is very long. did anyone see a specific location where he was found?

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Carib...326405&spn=0.033537,0.084543&t=h&z=14&vpsrc=6

 

[o3jeff]

I have a little issue with this.First,what the hell are you doing on the last run of the day going off alone into unknown terrain?The snowfields are not a place to be in bad visability unless you are very familiar with that area.Second how could he get to the western(back) side of the mountain without heading way off the usual direction?Again,why would you attempt this alone,on a last run?Lastly,I'm glad he's ok but it bugs me that he's getting this heros welcome home in Mass after doing something pretty dumb imo.

I thought I read this happened around noon time, it was their last run of the day before heading home.

 

[soposkier]

I have a little issue with this.First,what the hell are you doing on the last run of the day going off alone into unknown terrain?The snowfields are not a place to be in bad visability unless you are very familiar with that area.Second how could he get to the western(back) side of the mountain without heading way off the usual direction?Again,why would you attempt this alone,on a last run?Lastly,I'm glad he's ok but it bugs me that he's getting this heros welcome home in Mass after doing something pretty dumb imo.

This article has some graphics http://www.pressherald.com/news/Missing-teen-found-alive-near-Sugaloaf.html.

He was not in the snowfields. The area where people have gotten lost in the past skiing of the 'backside' of the mtn is a different drainage basin than where this guy ended up. There is a marked glade on the skiers left of the timberline trail abutting the boundary line. Maybe he followed some tracks that kept on going left and did not see any boundary signag? I haven't been in there this year so can't comment on how well marked the boundary is, but usually Sugarloaf does a really good job of making it clear where the boundary line is. I agree with your last point though, he made the initial bad choice to go into unknown terrain, Its a great story he made it out alive, but I've got to believe the ski area boundary was pretty well marked.

 

[riverc0il]

Here come all the MMQBs that never have gone out of bounds and learned a lesson themselves. Oh yea, right, we've all been there but we've just been fortunate (or had a better sense of direction) to avoid the trouble this young lad fell into. I've yet to see anything that suggested this guy did something like the Killington fools did, skiing off the backside of the mountain intentionally. Probably was just following tracks and didn't have the mindset to reoriented and get back on trail when things went poorly. I've schwacked through enough trees to know it is an easy mistake to make. Without knowing more information, I think it is poor form passing judgment, especially if you've ever gone past the boundary ropes solo without someone to show you...

 

[timm]

I understand not wanting to MMQB but the incident as described doesn't sound like bad luck or a calculated risk gone bad, but obvious recklessness. We have all obviously taken risks and done things that could have gone bad or been criticized with hindsight. To me the thing that puts it over the line is that (according to reports) it was there very end of the day when he did this. That going out alone off trail without map, compass or survival supplies at the close of the day is a really bad idea should be obvious to anyone.

 

[ALLSKIING]

Here come all the MMQBs that never have gone out of bounds and learned a lesson themselves. Oh yea, right, we've all been there but we've just been fortunate (or had a better sense of direction) to avoid the trouble this young lad fell into. I've yet to see anything that suggested this guy did something like the Killington fools did, skiing off the backside of the mountain intentionally. Probably was just following tracks and didn't have the mindset to reoriented and get back on trail when things went poorly. I've schwacked through enough trees to know it is an easy mistake to make. Without knowing more information, I think it is poor form passing judgment, especially if you've ever gone past the boundary ropes solo without someone to show you...

+1

 

[riverc0il]

I understand not wanting to MMQB but the incident as described doesn't sound like bad luck or a calculated risk gone bad, but obvious recklessness. We have all obviously taken risks and done things that could have gone bad or been criticized with hindsight. To me the thing that puts it over the line is that (according to reports) it was there very end of the day when he did this. That going out alone off trail without map, compass or survival supplies at the close of the day is a really bad idea should be obvious to anyone.

I'll step up to the plate on this one. I've done reckless stuff. I've thought better of it afterwards. Maybe I haven't crossed a boundary rope following a track at 3pm on my last run before. Maybe I've done something even more reckless, perhaps. I don't know. It is fine to look at this case for a lesson that we can gleam. But some folks are being a touch hostile and judgmental. We're all in this glass house together. Let's look for the lesson without throwing stones.

 

[timm]

I can agree with that and I give this kid credit for at least having the skills and brains to build a shelter and survive.

 

[BenedictGomez]

I thought it was noon, or was that reported wrong? Not that it makes too much difference really. Kid was still irresponsibly dumb, but that frequently goes with the 17 year old territory.

 

[timm]

I read end of day but maybe it just meant the father and son were taking their last run?

 

[wa-loaf]

I thought it was noon, or was that reported wrong? Not that it makes too much difference really. Kid was still irresponsibly dumb, but that frequently goes with the 17 year old territory.

I read end of day but maybe it just meant the father and son were taking their last run?

They split up for one last run and the kid was supposed to meet his dad at 1:30 to head home. It was not the end of the day.

 

[marcski]

Does anyone know if the kid was familiar with the 'loaf? Makes a difference if you are and know where you're going (generally) when you duck a rope.

 

[riverc0il]

Does anyone know if the kid was familiar with the 'loaf? Makes a difference if you are and know where you're going (generally) when you duck a rope.

I go off map all the time at mountains I am not familiar with.

Generalizations aren't going to help any one. Let's talk about going off map and what you need to know when going where you've never been before.

I think the take away here is that if you are going to follow tracks into the woods, you need to have a toolbox of basic navigational skills and the good sense to know when to cut back in the direction of the last known trail. The problem with that is some topography can drop off a ridge making traversing back extremely difficult.

The best thing to do is to scout it out and go out gradually each time after many laps, stay close to start and then go further. Only blindly follow tracks if you know where they will end (you know the entrance and exit location, just not what is in between).

Also the volume of tracks tells a lot... if there is one or two tracks, the people that made those tracks either know sometime everyone else doesn't know (perhaps something you need to know to navigate) or those people know absolutely nothing. A lot of tracks is almost always a safe sign... but you need to stay with those tracks, at least your first time down.

I go off map a lot. I often seek out new areas that I've never skied. I'm not afraid to drop into a line without tracks that I've never skied. But I have enough experience and a toolkit to stay safe. We don't know what was in this kid's toolkit. But it serves as a good reminder to review our tools and see if we might need a few additional.

 

[ceo]

If the weather that day was the same as on the news report I saw from Monday, I would have no problem believing that he simply lost the trail; it was socked in all the way down to the top of Double Runner long side. Last year when it was like that I went to go down Narrow Gauge Extension and was surprised at how steep it was; didn't figure out until I reached the crosscut that I was on Gondola Line.

 

[MadMadWorld]

I'll step up to the plate on this one. I've done reckless stuff. I've thought better of it afterwards. Maybe I haven't crossed a boundary rope following a track at 3pm on my last run before. Maybe I've done something even more reckless, perhaps. I don't know. It is fine to look at this case for a lesson that we can gleam. But some folks are being a touch hostile and judgmental. We're all in this glass house together. Let's look for the lesson without throwing stones.

I have also done very stupid things....came within probably an hour of taking out my cell phone and having to call for a helicopter rescue. Luckily, I was able to find my way back to safety. I made a really dumb decision in bad weather condition on terrain I was unfamiliar with. Unfortunately, these incidents are becoming all to frequent and share a common thread. What the solution is I don't know but I hope it raises more awareness for both skiers and resorts that this has become a problem and we need to come up with a plan.