63-year-old Massachusetts man reported missing on Mount Washington in New Hampshire, found on steep, icy slope
Updated Feb 26, 2021;
Facebook Share
It was hours before daybreak last Sunday when ski patrollers on Mount Washington found a 63-year-old climber from Massachusetts who had gone missing the night before.
The microspikes on his mountaineering boots hadn’t provide enough traction when he was descending the mountain the day before, causing him to fall and remain injured on the top of the icy New Hampshire mountain for hours. While he was there, the risk of an avalanche shifted from moderate to considerable overnight.
When he was discovered and eventually rescued, temperatures on the summit were six degrees below zero and surface winds were biting, ranging in speed from 35 to 50 miles per hours.
GORHAM â A 63-year-old Brookline, Mass., man was reported missing to U.S. Forest Service personnel at 11:00 p.m., on Saturday, Feb. 20, when he failed to return from a summit hike. Avalanche danger on Saturday was listed as moderate with the possibility of an increase in danger to considerable overnight.
Mount Washington Valley Ski Patrol found him on Sunday at approximately 2:45 a.m. on a steep, icy slope above an area known as Lunch Rocks in Tuckerman Ravine.
The subject of the search had taken a long, sliding fall down Right Gully after taking a wrong turn off Lion Head Trail. The microspikes he wore on his mountaineering boots didnât provide adequate traction during his descent, and he suffered non-life-threatening injuries during the fall.