Knife Edge Rescue

[peakbagger]

https://www.wmtw.com/article/dangero...hours/44946241

Conditions up on the summits are starting to be distinctly fall to early winter conditions. Mt Washington had 3 rescues last week due to the weather conditions at the base bing far nicer than up high.

[One Half]

https://www.wmtw.com/article/dangero...hours/44946241

Conditions up on the summits are starting to be distinctly fall to early winter conditions. Mt Washington had 3 rescues last week due to the weather conditions at the base bing far nicer than up high.

No injuries mentioned... I wonder if they were just woefully under prepared...

[TJ aka Teej]

Original source for the story is a Facebook post by the North Search and Rescue:

Saturday night, while many of you were wrapped up snug in warm blankets, at 10pm 2 Baxter State Park rangers ascended Dudley trail and 3 North SAR member ascended Helon Taylor trail, to converge on knifes edge. Where an unfortunate situation was unfolding and 6 lives were in danger.

As the night dragged on and the situation was stabilized, at 2am the call to shelter in place was made. With wind speeds gusting up to 30mph and the temperature falling, our members utilized the gear and equipment we are required to carry to hunker down on top of the mountain and wait till day light.

As the light started shining, so did a busy morning of preparations for a National Guard helo evac. Our team leader started across the knifes edge to assist with helicopter operations and subject care while the 2 other members provided support for the evac of the rest of the party down the Helon Taylor trail.
At 7:50 on Sunday morning, A Maine National Guard helicopter was over head.
By 8:10 the evac of the 5 remaining party members had begun. Over the next 11 hours, members sometimes, lifting, carrying and guiding the party members and with support from another North member who heard the call that water was running low jumped into action arriving in time half way up the trail with something like 10 bottles of water. successfully evac'd 5 very tired and sore individuals to Roaring Brook. Were they were met by family and friends.

With support from Baxter Rangers, 5 of our members, and Maine National Guard, a total of 21 hours were spent in active response on top of Maine's greatest mountain.

Job well done to your team members, BSP staff and Maine National Guard.

Nice photos on the FB page.
One patient was medivac'd by MNG.

[gpburdelljr]

Anybody know why they had to be rescued?

[TJ aka Teej]

Anybody know why they had to be rescued?

Neither BSP nor NSR have made any official statement on that. MNG won't comment at all, I believe.

[peakbagger]

I can speculate, the Knife Edge is considered the "feather in the cap" for hikes in Maine and on Katahdin. On a weekend day many really badly want to do the trail even if they are running late or the conditions are marginal. If the group summitted, they may have looked across and said it "cant be that bad" and made the wrong decision to proceed. The problem is that it starts out easy heading over to the South Peak but from there its a steep drop down the most exposed section of the trail. Think a steep uneven set of stairs with no rails. Few would elect to turn around after losing that much elevation. The trail for a while is "easier". The actual blazed route is in some places 10 to 12" wide on the peak of the ridge but the actual footbed is on the right side of the high point (when descending) for some distance. Its a bit less exposed. About 2/3rds across the ridge, the trail switches to the left side over a fairly hairy section wiht no way around it. The trail then switches to near vertical sidewards scrambliing with plenty of handholds and footholds and a very steep drop below. Many folks suddenly realize they are in past their comfort level. The trail then switches back to the right side and to an infamous chokepoint that to most requires a "jump into the abysss" where they can not see where their feet will land. On a good day there may be 30 or 40 people backed up there. I have had to guide several folks down this section over the years. Some folks just cannot deal with it and turn around and go back to the summit. Once past it the hiker is standing in the "chimney" and can see the top of Pamola with a 100 foot vertical wall scramble required. Plenty of handholds and footholds but many folks arent ready for it.

Add in group dynamics and or one person with a fear of heights or just plain worn out and it could take many hours to go across it, Add in marginal weather and darkness and more than few groups may need a rescue.

[peakbagger]

A bit more detail from a sketchy source https://www.foxnews.com/us/hiker-air...llest-mountain

[One Half]

Anybody know why they had to be rescued?

considering 1 was air lifted either 1) injury or 2) physically unable to continue due to lack of experience/prep or poor conditioning?

[One Half]

considering 1 was air lifted either 1) injury or 2) physically unable to continue due to lack of experience/prep or poor conditioning?

from the Fox article it looks like the hiker could have had issues with the altitude

[LazyLightning]

From the article posted above, the one air lifted out lost consciousness and was unconscious when the rescue team reached them.

[peakbagger]

If it was a litter carry versus an assisted walkout, it probably would be one of the most technical rescues attempted in the Northeast requiring far more skilled rescuers than the small team they had. My belief is they would need to rig the litter using tyrolean traverses for much of the route as there is just no way to conventionally carry a litter as the trail is just not that wide. It would be painfully slow. In that case, they were far better off bivying overnight with the hope that the weather would clear in the AM for a helicopter rescue. Note, that they did an assisted walkout with the rest of the group.

No doubt if anyone in the group publishes a first hand account it will be an interesting read. BTW Mt Washington had the first icing event of the year last night. winter conditions are coming soon.

[Daybreak]

My speculation is that the unconscious person was dehydrated and exhausted with insufficient food intake. She could have been diabetic has low sugar levels. I doubt altitude had any effect. It would not keep someone unconscious who was able to climb the mountain. The group as a whole seemed inexperienced, physically unfit with a lack of real knowledge of the true difficulties of the knife edge.

[Daybreak]

By 8:10 the evac of the 5 remaining party members had begun. Over the next 11 hours, members sometimes, lifting, carrying and guiding the party members

The group as a whole seemed very inexperienced and physically unfit with a lack of real knowledge of the true difficulties of the knife edge. It happens. They left the summit at 530 pm to hike the hardest "trail" on the mountain rather than turning around and taking the saddle trail down. Sunset was around 730 pm. I wonder what trail they took going up, how late they started, and hence how long it took them to get to the summit.

I did it on my 2nd or 3rd summit. For me all the puzzle pieces were obvious except for the one downclimb ("nobo"). It was a difficult puzzle. I think my solution was a 5.2 or 5.3 rock climb.

btw, the hitch to the gate was simple. A ranger gave me a hitch the rest of the way.

[Traveler]

Neither BSP nor NSR have made any official statement on that. MNG won't comment at all, I believe.

I would imagine if public funds were used in the rescue (personnel on public payroll, aircraft, etc) there will need to be some kind of report generated if not a recitation of the rescue timeline and the decisions that were made by both rescuers and those in the party. To not have this would not serve the public well.

Without any kind of objective documentation of this event there will be much speculation as to the cause and how the event became one requiring rescue. Without this information people are denied the lessons and cautionary information of others. In aviation, the NTSB incident/accident reports, especially of small aircraft, are an important facet of flying, Understanding what occurred and how to avoid repeating the same mistakes or decisions is a valuable tool for our community as well.

I am reminded of a bromide that applies here. Paraphrased, the mountains, much like the sea and the sky, are not dangerous in and of themselves, they are simply intolerant of mistakes, carelessness, and arrogance. Objective information is required to sort out the event and decisions made along the way which eventually put the party into a life threatening position. That no one died (that we know of) is amazing given the circumstances. To not objectively review these events denies those who follow important information.

One of the best ways to ensure your safety or those in a group is the "three strikes" default decision rule to stop or turn back. Not equipped for long exposure above timberline (1), someone starts to suffer muscle or breathing stress incrementally as the hike continues (2), weather conditions change and/or not enough time to complete the hike/climb as planned before darkness falls (3). The third problem is the default decision to stop/turn around.

Stay safe out there!

[peakbagger]

I have no doubt such a report is being generated post incident but expect the public is probably not going to see it. Keeping it confidential allows it to be better report.

[Daybreak]

I reread some posts, 530pm may have been somewhere on the knife edge when she became ill or when the call was made as opposed to the summit time.
I also found this comment:

"I was up there Saturday, and I think I may have passed these people heading up Cathedral. They were already taking off packs and talking their way through the footing scrambling over the first bit of boulders."..."We were both going the same direction. At the time, and definitely when I got to the top of the scramble, I thought that maybe I should hang tight and see how they made out, but that would've meant skipping the summit myself, which is what I figured they'd do. Not sure it was the same people, but it was a group of 6 people who were going slow on Saturday afternoon."

As far public info, I speculate that MNG will only report (even in the log) the details of their trip and simply state that the woman was ill or unconscious if at all. (privacy issues)
The hospital said she was "discharged from the emergency room". (privacy issues)
NSR is a volunteer group. I copy and pasted this from their Facebook site comments:

we don't like to say what someone can learn from a situation because they are all different and everyone's skills very. But being overly prepared is not a bad thing. Anything can happen even on a planned trip the mountain makes its own weather and conditions can change in seconds.

and

we can not discuss the nature of the situation due to privacy. There is always something to learn from any situation and what was mentioned in the reply to Mike is the best advice we can give at this time for an average katahdin trip.

BSP is mostly an independent and self-funded entity. Your advice is sound and probably doesn't differ from anything they would say.

The 911 call may be the only govt. public info. Privacy issues may still apply.


FWIW Cathedral can be slow and difficult but is considerably easier, less windy, and less exposed than the most difficult part of the knife edge.

[gpburdelljr]

The bottom line is that we will probably never know why the woman passed out, and had to be airlifted out.

[somers515]

Agreed we will likely never find out and it’s too bad as it’s good to try to learn from mistakes. Obviously don’t take this as definitive truth, but I heard the woman was fasting on the day of her hike. Even on days I eat a little less than normal I notice a difference in my hiking performance so that’s the reminder I’m taking away from this ( stay fueled up). Stay safe all!