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Mt. Washington Misadventure: 10th Anniversary
Winterport, ME
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Bernie Dahl (Left) and Mike Pelchat
23 October 2009: Summit of Mt. Washington, N.H.
What a joy it is to return to Mt. Washington to meet with Mike Pelchat, the leader of the team that rescued me on 23 October 1999. Between his tasks as General Manager of the NH's Mt. Washington State Park, which controls the top of the mountain, we were able to discuss in detail that fateful night, remember the scores of great people that worked together to rescue me, and to be brought up-to-date on the current search and rescue efforts and organizations in the area.
From my related book What Better Place to Die, we noted the last section compiled by veteran writer, David Fitzpatrick, from my 911 calls, rescuer first-person accounts, and official reports:
The original team of four—Rob Adair, Pete Lewis, Ian Turnbull, and Ben Miller—meets up with Pelchat's on the Auto Road near the Alpine Garden Trail. The weather is so bad and the search so fruitless they have to decide whether anything further can be done. It is getting too dangerous for them to be out there.
Aside from the obvious dangers of the elements and exposure, Pelchat says, "What happens in these conditions is that the deep, sticky snow not only camouflages the cairns—it also covers the rocks and hides the voids … this makes leg-breaking traps everywhere, and for the most treacherous walking conditions."
The weather is insane at this point. One rescuer notes that during one of their huddles, they are in a circle, head to head, shouting in order to be heard. Rescuers comment that unless Bernie is on a trail and they step on him, they will never find him.
Pelchat suggests they take Alpine Garden Trail up to the Nelson Crag junction. The rescuers are somewhat tired, having been out in tough conditions for hours, although not discouraged. Pelchat says, "Look, guys, I know it's bad, but there's someone dying out here."
They form a human chain and begin moving from cairn to cairn. Near the top of Nelson Crag, the visibility is so bad that even they are unable to locate the next cairn. Since the Auto Road is a short distance away, they head for it.
At the road, they check the Alpine/Nelson junction again—with no luck. Pelchat suggests they go down to the top of Huntington Ravine to a very large cairn at the Alpine intersection. They do so, but again, there is no Bernie.
Pelchat says, "I was on the outside of the line search, and damned if I didn't find a boot print in the wind-blown crust that was preserved well enough to show a heel mark with the toe pointing uphill. I said, 'Let's try and follow him up Nelson Crag; he couldn't have gone much further in this weather. If we don't find him in five minutes, we'll turn back this time for sure."
Some of the rescuers are exhausted. Still, they feel they have to be close. The next few minutes sees them fighting just to move, much less find the next cairn.
Five minutes later they find me, and after three hours of struggle, I am delivered to an awaiting ambulance at the bottom of the Auto Road.
***
The day on the summit was a rare sunny and almost windless day and one of remembrances, praise of the heroes that rescued me, and of moving on as well as of sharing the lessons learned on that mountain.
Two things are worth noting:
1) this time I did not summit "solo, in bad weather, and depending on my cell phone". Instead I joined a summitting team, led by brakeman Darrell Fenimore on the Mt. Washington Cog Railway.
2) this time my latest wiz-bang cell phone did NOT work on the mountain as my trusty old Motorola did back in 1999!
All the best-
Bernie Dahl, M.D.
What a joy it is to return to Mt. Washington to meet with Mike Pelchat, the leader of the team that rescued me on 23 October 1999. Between his tasks as General Manager of the NH's Mt. Washington State Park, which controls the top of the mountain, we were able to discuss in detail that fateful night, remember the scores of great people that worked together to rescue me, and to be brought up-to-date on the current search and rescue efforts and organizations in the area.
From my related book What Better Place to Die, we noted the last section compiled by veteran writer, David Fitzpatrick, from my 911 calls, rescuer first-person accounts, and official reports:
The original team of four—Rob Adair, Pete Lewis, Ian Turnbull, and Ben Miller—meets up with Pelchat's on the Auto Road near the Alpine Garden Trail. The weather is so bad and the search so fruitless they have to decide whether anything further can be done. It is getting too dangerous for them to be out there.
Aside from the obvious dangers of the elements and exposure, Pelchat says, "What happens in these conditions is that the deep, sticky snow not only camouflages the cairns—it also covers the rocks and hides the voids … this makes leg-breaking traps everywhere, and for the most treacherous walking conditions."
The weather is insane at this point. One rescuer notes that during one of their huddles, they are in a circle, head to head, shouting in order to be heard. Rescuers comment that unless Bernie is on a trail and they step on him, they will never find him.
Pelchat suggests they take Alpine Garden Trail up to the Nelson Crag junction. The rescuers are somewhat tired, having been out in tough conditions for hours, although not discouraged. Pelchat says, "Look, guys, I know it's bad, but there's someone dying out here."
They form a human chain and begin moving from cairn to cairn. Near the top of Nelson Crag, the visibility is so bad that even they are unable to locate the next cairn. Since the Auto Road is a short distance away, they head for it.
At the road, they check the Alpine/Nelson junction again—with no luck. Pelchat suggests they go down to the top of Huntington Ravine to a very large cairn at the Alpine intersection. They do so, but again, there is no Bernie.
Pelchat says, "I was on the outside of the line search, and damned if I didn't find a boot print in the wind-blown crust that was preserved well enough to show a heel mark with the toe pointing uphill. I said, 'Let's try and follow him up Nelson Crag; he couldn't have gone much further in this weather. If we don't find him in five minutes, we'll turn back this time for sure."
Some of the rescuers are exhausted. Still, they feel they have to be close. The next few minutes sees them fighting just to move, much less find the next cairn.
Five minutes later they find me, and after three hours of struggle, I am delivered to an awaiting ambulance at the bottom of the Auto Road.
***
The day on the summit was a rare sunny and almost windless day and one of remembrances, praise of the heroes that rescued me, and of moving on as well as of sharing the lessons learned on that mountain.
Two things are worth noting:
1) this time I did not summit "solo, in bad weather, and depending on my cell phone". Instead I joined a summitting team, led by brakeman Darrell Fenimore on the Mt. Washington Cog Railway.
2) this time my latest wiz-bang cell phone did NOT work on the mountain as my trusty old Motorola did back in 1999!
All the best-
Bernie Dahl, M.D.
Bernhoff A. Dahl, M.D.
President
Trionics International, Inc.
Winterport, ME
207-223-9998
