How a White Mountains trek turned into a survival test

I nearly got hypothermia a few years ago.

I'd gotten into cycling and been the tough northerner (England not America) that I am I went for a ride in the north Yorkshire hills on a sunny winters day.

Got about 45 miles into the ride and I got a flat, no problem I have a spare so I swapped them out and headed back and then the sky opened freezing rain/sleet and the wind crept up, again not a problem as I was wearing wet weather but then I got another flat (road bikes are a git at times) and I didn't have a spare tube.

So now I'm 10 miles away from anywhere I know on a freezing cold winters day wearing gear designed to keep you warm when you are moving and working hard with a bike that is useless and wearing clipless cycling shoes (not designed to be walked in) and because of the cold my phone battery (which was never good) was dying and it's getting dark.

I used my bike tool to take the cleats of my shoes and set of back towards the last village I'd been through, it took hours with temp's around 0C in a 20-30 mile an hour wind so the wind chill was horrible and since I'd planned on been home before it got dark my lights where sat on my computer desk at home.

I got into the village about 8pm and the little old lady in the local pub took one look at me and went and got towels, a hot drink and some of the nicest chocolate I've ever tasted and an hour later I was ok but damn that was unpleasant.

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Now when I ride alone in winter I always ride with my lights on the bike even during the day, I use a medium sized backpack to carry: fully charged spare phone battery, puncture repair kit and two tubes, 3-4 bars of kendal mint cake, spare batteries for lights, thermal socks, small towel, pair of windproof overtrousers (lightweight and waterproof) and a pair of hiking trainers.

"...he would set a point of no return and learn more about trail conditions. “And probably take another trail.”"

BUZZ, wrong answer. Trail conditions change. People make mistakes. People break their legs. Freak weather rolls in.

The right answer is to always be prepared to hunker down for a couple days. And grow some situational awareness -- it's never ok to let anyone in the group be wet and cold in the wilderness. By the time somebody's sock is frozen to their boot all the alarm bells should be ringing in your head and you're lighting a fire and setting up camp.

“But what I didn’t realize was the danger of hypothermia.”

That's unforgivable. What other danger rates mentioning? Even in summer people die of hypothermia all the time. In bitter cold, in deep snow, and it never crossed your mind?

- They made several bad mistakes. The tag line of the article said, "and how grit ultimately got the group out of a frozen labyrinth" but it was luck, not grit. The bad decisions were downplayed in this write up.

- They didn't have the right gear and weren't prepared (e.g. keep at least some water and batteries close to your body). One energy bar?

- They shouldn't have pushed on at night. Even for a day hike in the snow I carry a shovel and a couple of foil blankets and know how to rig a shelter. They would have done better to stick together (not to split up), know ahead of time who makes the final decision, and to have waited the night out.

- I don't remember the white mountains as well, but the places I backpack in winter (e.g. minnesota, california, new mexico, colorado) I use a topo and a compass and only use the GPS for back up.

- the three times I've felt "wow, there's a good chance chance I won't survive this" my overwhelming thought has been embarrassment at my own stupidity. Two of the three times the initial failure was "set out too late." And it was always multiple, cascading failures -- typically you should be able to deal with one or two things going wrong -- same as with engineering.

Just because these mountains aren't any taller than 7000 feet doesn't mean it isn't one of the most rugged in the world. The Jet Stream is particularly low in this part of the world which is the reason of the extreme cold.

Sometimes, vanity can be deadly.

The mountains are smaller and the states are more densely populated, but that doesn't mean that the wilderness can be taken lightly, particularly in winter. Especially for a sport that places value in isolation ("first tracks" are highly sought and many locals have their own secret powder stashes) you'll often find yourself in situations where an injury or gear failure can mean serious mortal peril. Even if you're lucky enough to have cell service, batteries don't hold their charge in extreme cold, more often than not, you're on your own.

These hobbies are, in fact, dangerous and the consequences are real. They are also incredibly fun. You've just got to know what you're getting yourself into.

The good news is that they always knew where they were -- they had GPS. Also they were always within 15 miles or so of some kind of civilization. So I'm with the professor: there was no danger of not getting out, as long as nobody just sat down and stopped moving.

If it hadn't been for the GPS, I might have gone the shelter route, but that's a huge time sink. You're better off just doing what they did: kept slugging away at it.

Note: I'm not trying to downplay the dangers of hypothermia; that stuff can kill you. But I would think that any overnight hiking trip in the snowy mountains would face this, so to me it doesn't look like a new problem that emerged as part of the rest of the adventure.

Sometimes you can even send/receive text messages from an airplane.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/05/magazine/a-speck-in-the-se...

Terrific read and I think it may have been posted here.

These stories are useful. Both to get ideas and to validate/ challenge choices I make when going hiking. To critique it is not to say "Look at that dumass, my hero Bear Grillz would have known what to do..." but rather "Wow - this can happen so easily and relatively close to warm beds, even to experienced folks"

And this guy sounds much more experienced than I am. But:

When you do this kind of hiking you register the route with someone who expects you to be out by such and such a time... Last hike I wnet on my friend logged our route in a trail book. It is easy for someone to get injured, cross country skiing will give you nasty twists and breaks.

Fire equipment? They are in a pine forest and could have gotten a fire going.

Also those aluminum foil-like emergency blankets - they are so small and light, there is space in any pack. Came in handy on my last overnight as a sleepingbag liner as the night got colder than expected.

How/Why did his feet get wet? Crosscountry ski boots are usually a Gortex-y material with a hard base and a cleat for the bnding. Wonder if he fell in a stream, etc. If so that is time to stop and make a fire. Get warm and dry.

I am curious what they were wearing. It was warm enough that some of the streams were not ice covered - so probably below freezing at night but with normal walking they should have stayed warm.

Hypothermia can happen when the air temp is quite a bit above freezing esp. - if you are wet.

Last winter I was on well marked xcountry ski trails in the Adirondacks (NY State) with my boys and another father and children. The loop took longer than expected and we spent the last two hours getting back in the dark. No cell service and we got off the skis. I bound all the skis together and carried them and we hiked back.

It was well below freezing and was concerned about the little toes and fingers. Since we had registered the hike a snowmobile came out for us and caught us in the last km - didn't take us back though, the bastard. :)

I did not have a pack on but had compass, firestarter and a few emerg blankets in my coat. I had two small LEDs - I gave one to the other father and we used them to check for blazes and read map. WHen the smowmobile came they were useful for signaling. Plus a metal water bottle to melt snow if needed...

So that situation worked out ok. I am not really comparing it to the situation in the article. I was glad to have the foil blankets and firestarter, in case.

My wife says I overpack (and she is not wrong). We have animated discussions before going out. "Why do you need this rope?" "I dunno - that's the point" "What are you going to do with this axe?" "Etc..."

An overly heavy pack is a liability as well. I could not keep up with my friend on my last overnight. We also had to climb cliffs and I seriously considered tieing off the bag and pulling it up the cliff after I got up. (with the paracord my wife was complaining about - ;) )

Also when you fall extra weight increases the impact... And I fall on occaision. So I must learn to reduce.

But, I think if I were in that group - I would be angry with the lack of prep - angry at my self mostly.

This newspaper account lacks information important to understanding the incident, such as the temperature and forecast. Additionally, snow conditions could have been reported by checking with the Forest Service, the Appalachian Mountain Club, and the Mount Washington Observatory. Analysis of this incident in Appalachia Journal will likely include such details. Winter conditions in the White Mountains are highly variable from year to year and have a tremendous impact on the outcome of backcountry trips.

One thing that hasn't been touched on either by the article or by the commenters—they were doing this as a ski trip. It doesn't say what kind of boots they had, but cross country ski boots tend to have less insulation than winter mountaineering boots (often much less). While temperatures at nearby Whitefield airport weren't bad during the daylight hours of the 16th, they went below zero (F) in the early hours of the 17th. [2] There's no way I'd want anyone in my group wearing lightly insulated cross country boots in below zero temperatures.

It is significant that the trail wasn't broken out. That it took them nine hours to go from Stillwater Junction to the closed Franconia Brook campsite indicates that snow and trail conditions were terrible.

I think that both the article and commenters here overemphasize the value of GPS. The route is not difficult to follow. Most of their second day was spent following a watershed downstream. For this you need a GPS? Warm boots are far more useful (note that the article says that a GPS failed). There is no cell reception where they were, either. When (not 'if') the electronics fail will you be able to cope?

The most important thing that this group did right was to get themselves out under their own power. People who come from urban areas have an incredible temptation to dial 9-1-1 or push a magic "rescue me" button on a PLB device. There is no fleet of helicopters standing by to come get you.

So many people come to New Hampshire to hike or enjoy the outdoors that there are numerous incidents requiring rescue. This has stressed the budgets of the state and federal agencies involved and taxed the energy of the volunteer organizations. Some of the incidents are due to ignorance, negligence, or irresponsibility. People discount the danger to which they expose their rescuers, but meanwhile most of the NH SAR community is aware that volunteer Albert Dow was killed taking part in a search. [3]

New Hampshire started the hikeSafe program [4] due to the increase in the number of search and rescue incidents. It's disappointing that this article didn't interview any SAR personnel or people with winter hiking experience to highlight this group's mistakes. Nor does it list any sources of backcounty education, such as the AMC New Hampshire Chapter's Winter Workshops. [5] It's typical for downcountry media to make heroes of participants and treat such incidents as adventures rather than discuss errors, and this article somewhat follows that pattern.

[1] http://www.outdoors.org/publications/appalachia/

[2] http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KHIE/2014/2/17/D...

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Herr#Early_life

[4] http://www.hikesafe.com/

[5] http://amc-nh.org/committee/excursions/index-winterworkshop....