PINKHAM NOTCH â In two separate incidents, four people climbing Mount Washingtonâs Huntington Ravine last Saturday were caught in high winds and blowing whiteout conditions, according to Frank Carus, lead snow ranger and director of the U.S. Forest Serviceâs Mount Washington Avalanche Center.
Both incidents had good endings, Carus said, but he cautioned climbers to be aware of hazardous conditions.
âTypical ground conditions in events like these make it hard or impossible to see from one trail-marking cairn to the next. Combined with drifting snow on the ground, normal navigational cues such as rock cairns, turnpiking and crampon scratched ice and rock are lost,â Carus noted.
MOUNT WASHINGTON â Authorities say two men are lucky to be alive after they survived falls of more than 500 feet down the rock- and snow-covered face of the Tuckerman Ravine headwall early Saturday afternoon.
Of the two, lead USFS Snow Ranger Frank Carus, director of the Mount Washington Avalanche Center, said Monday: âI canât believe they didnât sustain any life-threatening injuries.
The identities of the two men were not made available as of press time despite requests for information from the Forest Service.
Reached at home, Carus said the two were believed to be from Connecticut and in their early 20s.