Triple Crowner died on (or near) the AT in the Whites

[peakbagger]

https://nhfishgame.com/2024/01/18/hi...m-mount-guyot/

A lot of missing details at this point. His trail name was Rafiki.
He had a two year old son There is a Go Fund Me established https://www.gofundme.com/f/christopher-roma

Winter had held off in the Whites until the last two weeks. No snow pack to speak of and warmer than normal temps (some days). That changed recently with a couple of snowstorms that dumped a lot of snow up high but down low they changed to rain reducing the snow pack somewhat. There was a recent snowfall of mostly powder. Mt Guyot is in one of more remote areas of the whites with no fast access. It does get a lot of use in the winter due to it being part of Pemi loop (a hiking challenge and some of the more difficult to access four thousand footers. Normally trails would have been packed out MLK weekend but the weather was not good so its likely the deceased would have been breaking trail in three to four feet of snow. This is a major physical effort where forward progress will slow to crawl. There is also good chance of clothes getting wet from perspiration and snow on the outer layer, its a perfect combination for hypothermia and sadly one of the earliest symptoms of hypothermia is loss of clear thought which can lead to bad decisions.

[TrailsEnd]

Thanks for the context on the weather, it helps a lot without knowing a lot of the rest of the story, stuff like what his plans were out there, etc.

I see that the Pemi Loop is around 32 miles. I'm not all that familiar with it, would those attempting it in the winter most likely be doing this as an overnight/multi-day trip or an all in one push sort of effort?

This accident seems incredibly similar to what happened to Kenneth Holmes in January of 2004. Kenneth had planned to be out several nights for the trip he was on.

[peakbagger]

One currently unsubstantiated claim is that he was trying to do a one day winter Pemi Loop which would be quite an accomplishment. FKT for summer for the loop is in the 5 hours and 30 minute range which is incredible. Winter attempts normally involve overnighting but that introduces a lot of extra weight. Add in unbroken trails and it can be beyond a major effort. The other approach is keep an eye on the conditions and just catch the right ones to do it fast and light. IF the trails are packed out, which sometimes happens late winter, they can be like a sidewalk but conversely a day later conditions can degrade to life threatening. I do not know what this hikers approach was.

Packing enough gear to survive a night in typical winter conditions in the whites would add several pounds to an already full pack. I know that if I gear up, I end up using one of my old AT packs that I went out for a week with.

The Whites are just short little mountains but they are the intersection of three storm tracks and in winter can be incredibly dangerous.

[JNI64]

We can't thank everybody involved with the rescue attempt enough !

Damn shame though

[One Half]

and this is why I NEVER hike in the Whites without being prepared to spend a very cold and snowy night. AND. I don't even backpack in the winter!

[jeffmeh]

Very sad indeed. Thanks for the additional context Peakbagger. Of course, many of us want to understand the decision-making that led to this tragic outcome. It's always a tradeoff between wanting to learn to perhaps prevent similar tragedies, and being sensitive to those who lost a father/husband/son/friend.

[peakbagger]

Reportedly he was out to set a personal best on a winter Pemi loop and started out with two others. At some point they decided they would bail and he kept going. That is definitely not recomended in the whites in winter on unbroken trails. Unless the two were out of shape and dragging him down its generally faster to break trail with three people than with one. the usual route is clockwise from Lincoln Woods to the Osseo trail which is well sheltered from the wind, Flume is exposed but its just a short section of exposure and the same with Liberty although the exposure is somewhat longer. These summits are very popular and usually broken out. Once past Liberty Springs, the trail is rarely broken out and fills in with snow quick. If they made it to Haystack that is typical spot where many hikes fail as its full exposure to whatever wind and weather is in the area and it does not stop for a couple of miles until the trail heads down off North Lafayette. In some cases like the one in the Last Traverse book https://www.nhpr.org/the-exchange/20...-winter-whites folks start out from Haystack heading towards Lincoln and end up turning around and getting lost trying to bail out from Haystack down Falling Waters trail. In the summer the break in the Krumholtz looks obvious but more than a few folks have been trapped there looking for it. If they broke off at Haystack its a long way to Mt Bond solo, there are plenty of bail out options but its long hitch back to Lincoln Woods. Guyot Shelter may have provided some shelter but without the right gear it probably would have been the same result. Usually the recommendation is just dig down in the snow, crawl into a bivy and hope. Generally, in S&R they dont declare the person deceased until they are warmed up as a severely hypothermic person may look dead when cold.

The same author Ty Gagne wrote Where you will find me about another winter rescue attempt near Madison Hut. It goes into the great detail on hypothermia and how a solo skilled hiker froze to death in far nastier conditions.

[Traveler]

Hubris frequently discounts reality, replacing it with an inflated sense of one's true capabilities. We see this again and again in mountains known for their danger and lethality when conditions override one's confidence. It is a shame to see an arguably skilled mountaineer become yet another cautionary tale, only to benefit those who take the lesson to heart.

It's hard to say with lack of information if the "3-strikes" rule would have led to a different outcome, however unanticipated snow fall leaving waist deep snow, trails normally broken in were not, and 2 out of the 3-person team bailing out should have been a klaxon alarm to abandoning the attempt for more favorable conditions. Hypothermia probably played a large role in this, however the point of the 3-strikes rule is to trigger the retreat decision with basic observation before hypothermia prevents sound decision making.

Be careful out there, winter still has a lot of punch left to it.

[4eyedbuzzard]

Just read this this morning at https://apnews.com/article/hiker-dea...29ed897afdbf0a

Pretty tragic. I believe my daughter who is a pretty avid hiker of roughly the same age may have known him. He was by report pretty experienced, had completed the Triple Crown in 2016 through 2018 and added a second PCT thru in 2020, all the NH 48 4000ft peaks, and skied and rode in the Whites in winter. He had grown up and lived most of his life in Thornton, right in the Whites, so he certainly wasn't unaware of the dangers nor unforgiving environment/weather. Lots of times we chalk tragedies in the Whites up to inexperience, unpreparedness, or not enough local knowledge, so this is rather stunning in that sense.

But, on the flip side his mother said that "he was never really a turning-back kind of kid", and reading his guide service website at https://www.northeasttrekkingcompany.com/ and clicking through the links to the "who I am" and "book now" pages leaves me with a feeling that, even with having hiked a lot, he was perhaps over-confident in his abilities based upon the way the claims were worded/written up and, to me anyway, the rather absurdly high valuation he placed on his "guide services" advertised there. Hubris has claimed many lives, even those of locals, in the Whites.

Again, sad. RIP