A Tale of Tragedy Narrowly Averted: Twelve Lessons for Travel Above Treeline

Lession 1: Don’t Count on Moving Rapidly Trail conditions can make half a mile per hour and exhausting speed. The AMC guidbook suggests travel times should be doubled in winter. Under some conditions that advice is not nearly conservative enough.

Lesson 2: Bring clothing suitable for Full-Scale Arctic Conditions Especially important is adequate headgear (because so much heat loss occurs through the head). Genuine Winter boots (not summer-weight hiking boots) A good mitten-glove combination.

Lesson 3: Never Try to Move in a Full-scale Storm Above Treeline Stay in a shelter or tent. No one should risk becoming exhausted or lost in the incredible and relentless fury of some White Mountain storms.

Lesson 4: Never Go Anywhere Without a Compass If you get lost in an extended white-out without a compass (and especially without the proper gear) you are in a very severe situation.

Lesson 5: Don’t Count on Following Your Own Footprints Wind can blow them into oblivion in a few minutes. The hole left by an ice axe lasts somewhat longer, so look for those rather than your crampon tracks.

Lesson 6: Never Separate Yourself From the Equipment You Need For Survival Without a their packs--and spare clothes, sleeping bags, tent, stove, food--they would have surely perished in the open. With their packs, their chances of survival were considerably improved.

Lesson 7: Remember that Early Winter Days Have the Fewest Hours “It’s the time of the year when it gets late early”--Yogi Berra A Head Lamp is good insurance against getting caught in the dark (with an extra bulb and extra batteries).

Lesson 8: Always Take Time To Pack Properly Failure to stash an item inside your pack (and even inside a plastic bag) can result in it becoming so soaked as to be useless. Items can be torn off your pack and lost. In this case the price was only some lost sleep.

Lesson 9: In setting up a tent, never assume the wind direction will be constant Few if any tents can withstand the full fury of a Presidential’s storm. Snow caves and Igloos are better, but can be time consuming (and there may be little snow).

Lesson 10: In Winter, neither wind nor cold are as deadly as warmth and rain, followed by cold. When this occurs, leave fast, especially if your gear is soaked.

Lesson 11: Many Layers of wool are worth more than the finest down when wet (circa 1968) As already discussed, dress like an onion Don’t wear cotton anything!!!

Lesson 12: Never Underestimate Winter in the Mountains The average wind speed on Mt. Washington in July is 24.7 mph, in January it is 43.8 From 1948 to 1975, the fastest wind recorded in January was mph!! Wind chill factor makes the apparent temp as low as -80 F or lower!