Every year, on average, 25 people who are injured while climbing, skiing and mountaineering on Mount Washington require some type of assistance from rescue groups such as the US Forest Service and the Mount Washington Volunteer Ski Patrol. The incident summaries listed below are provided as an educational tool in order to help prevent future accidents. The accidents range from sprained ankles to multi-systems trauma, to avalanche burials. The reports and analysis of these accidents have revealed some interesting insights into winter mountain safety.

Crevasse fall; Headwall of Tuckerman Ravine

At approximately 3:30pm, Snow Rangers at Hermit Lake were notified of a snowboarder who had fallen into a crevasse near the waterfall in the Headwall of Tuckerman Ravine. In the amount of time it took to grab gear for a technical rescue and hike up to the Bowl, bystanders had…

Long sliding fall; Tuckerman Ravine

A group of people were snow shoeing in Tuckerman Ravine in the bottom of Right Gully when one of them slipped on an icy surface and began a head first sliding fall toward boulders.  His friend, who was below him, got in his fall line and stopped his fall.  This…

Injured skier; East Snowfields

A skier fell near the bottom of the East Snowfields, on the summit cone of Mt. Washington. He told us that his ski contacted a hidden rock buried beneath a thin amount of snow. This caused him to fall, which sent him over the top of a large rock and…

Injured Skier: Tuckerman Ravine

A 44 year old male was skiing in the Lower Snowfields of Tuckerman Ravine when he hit a section of “boilerplate” snow. He slid head-first into the trees suffering a shoulder dislocation and leg injury before coming to rest. He was treated by the USFS Snow Rangers and members of…

Climbing Fall; Pinnacle Gully, Huntington Ravine

A group of three climbers fell while simul-climbing upper pitches of Pinnacle Gully. It was a very busy Saturday in Huntington Ravine. Temperatures Friday were warm and sunny, and then overnight they stayed above the freezing mark. Saturday was also warm and sunny, so there was a significant amount of…

Snowboarder fall; Lip, Tuckerman Ravine

A 22 year old male snowboarder sustained a laceration to his shin during a fall in the Lip. He apparently fell hard enough to pull his feet out of his boots, which remained firmly attached in his bindings. We believe it was the snowboard that caused the 2” laceration. He…

Injured hiker; Lion Head Winter Route

A hiker was descending the steep section Lion Head Winter Route when snow had balled up in his crampon causing him to fall. He fell approximately 50 feet, injuring his lower leg during the fall. While bystanders began to haul him down the trail the Snow Ranger that was returning…

Four consecutive injuries; Tuckerman Ravine

USFS Snow Rangers and the Mount Washington Volunteer Ski Patrol assisted with four injured visitors. Each patient was able to evacuate themselves without further assistance beyond Hermit Lake. The first patient was a participant in the Inferno pentathlon who fell during the ski leg and dislocated his shoulder. The dislocation…

Injured Snowboarder; Lip, Tuckerman Ravine

A snowboarder caught an edge in the Lip causing him to tumble about 300 feet to the floor of the ravine. The victim tore his ACL during the fall. USFS Snow Rangers and members of MWVSP splinted the injured leg and he was able to walk with assistance to Hermit Lake, where…

Two sliding falls; Tuckerman Ravine

At approximately 1:00pm a mountaineer was taking a photograph in the vicinity of the Lip when he lost balance and fell about 300 feet to the floor of Tuckerman Ravine. He sustained a lower leg injury as a result of the fall. The patient was splinted and packaged into a…

Two long sliding falls; Tuckerman Ravine

Two incidents took place which required responses from USFS Snow Rangers, the Mount Washington Volunteer Ski Patrol (MWVSP), the AMC, and the HMC. In both cases, the victims slid out of control for a long distance on a very hard icy surface that dominated the mountain resulting in multiple injuries…

Two injured skiers; Tuckerman Ravine

Two incidents involving skiers occurred almost simultaneously in Tuckerman Ravine in the late afternoon. At about 4pm, a skier descended the Sluice and as he transitioned into the floor of the Ravine his skis broke through a crust layer causing him to fall. The skier suffered a lower leg injury…

Hit by falling ice. April 9, 2008

A skier was at Lunch Rocks with a group of people when he was struck in the face by falling ice.  The group had intentionally positioned themselves in a location that offered shelter from icefall, but the piece silently threaded its way through the rocks and impacted the victim, causing…

Injured Hiker; Lion Head Winter Route

A group of mountaineers were glissading the Lion Head Winter Route when one of them lost control and fell down approximately 75-100 feet through the trees to the bottom of the steep section of trail. Along the way he hit some trees and came to a stop against a large…

Sliding Fall; Odell Gully, Huntington Ravine

A climber was injured from a sliding fall while descending in Huntington Ravine.  A party of two started up Odell Gully around 3:00 pm on Saturday afternoon.  After completing the main ice climbing section, they traversed to the east to begin their descent.  Neither of them had their headlamps with…

Sliding fall; Huntington Ravine

A party of four was ascending the Fan in Huntington Ravine when one of them fell and slid into two other people in his party causing them to fall as well.  One of three involved in the fall was unable to self arrest on the icy surface and tumbled about…

Sliding fall; Tuckerman Ravine Trail, Summit Cone

A party of three was descending the Tuckerman Ravine Trail on the summit cone of Mt. Washington when they lost the trail.  Due to poor visibility, they wandered off trail to the east and began descending a steep snowfield.  One of them caught her crampon, causing her to trip and…

Avalanche fatality; Central Gully, Huntington Ravine

At 9:20 pm on January 18 the USFS Snow Rangers were informed that a solo climber was overdue from his climb in Huntington Ravine.  The overdue climber had signed into the winter climbers register at Pinkham Notch with the plan of climbing Central Gully in Huntington Ravine.  According to his…

Human-triggered avalanche; Pinnacle Gully, Huntington Ravine

On Thursday morning December 20th three climbers were suiting up after breakfast at the Harvard Cabin when USFS Snow Ranger Jeff Lane entered the building.  Jeff was in the process of writing the avalanche advisory for the gullies of Huntington Ravine and asking visitors what their plans were for the day. …

Lost hiker; Lion Head, Alpine Garden

After skiing the Upper Snowfields, a party of three decided to split their group at the intersection of the Alpine Garden and Lion Head trails. Two were planning to ski Right Gully and the other was going to hike down the Lion Head Winter Route. The plan was to reunite…

Long sliding fall; Tuckerman Ravine

A climber injured his leg after falling down Tuckerman Ravine. He was with two friends and the three of them climbed Central Gully, hiked across the Alpine Garden and began descending into Tuckerman Ravine at dark. He was wearing crampons at the time of the fall but his ice axe…

Climber fall; Lobster Claw, Tuckerman Ravine

A mountaineer was injured while descending the Lobster Claw in Tuckerman Ravine. During the descent, he lost his footing and took a tumbling fall down the gully injuring his hip. Snow Rangers and a member of the Mt. Washington Volunteer Ski Patrol assessed his injuries and assisted him down to…

1 … 3 4 5 6