Lost Candian Hiker: Shintani

[M@]

Article (http://www.theunionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Search+resumes+for+Canadian+ hiker+on+Mount+Washington&articleId=a253f8ea-b11e-4887-b096-cb946b939311) in Union Leader

Article mentions they'll be looking the the Tuckerman Ravine and Cutler River Drainage.

Gonna look for TR's or stuff/questions around a trip on 2009-06-09

M@

[icelanticskier]

all over the bowl today while we skied.

rog

[Seeker]

Ah--holding on to hope.

[boardman]

godspeed for his rescue . . .

the comments by some of the mouth-breathers on the article's website are enough to make me want to wretch.

[NtrentT]

godspeed for his rescue . . .

the comments by some of the mouth-breathers on the article's website are enough to make me want to wretch.

Like this one....
Maybe it's time we calculate the fee's charged for hikers against the cost spent on rescuing them.

Yes let's target the green freaks for higher taxes. They don't seem to have trouble targeting smokers and everyone else.
- Deb, Derry

I hope things turn out for the best.

[brakeformoose]

I was up in the Southern Presis on both Tuesday and Wednesday and could see the blackhawk flying around. On the Crawford Path below Eisenhower we could see them focusing on the Dry river valley; which always seems to be the place that lost hikers end up.

It seems like this kind of stuff happens all too often but when considering the number of people that travel in these hills it is bound to happen. The hikeSafe program is great but we can only hope everyone gets the message. Some people just don't perceive the danger that can be found in these mountains.

Just yesterday on the summit cone of the rockpile I saw three people (clearly non-hikers from the cog) climbing down on some rocks. I had to call over to them to let them know that they were not actually on any trail and one of them gave me attitude saying they "came out of a secret cave". Their ignorance and attitude really put me in a bad mood until I let the views on such a fine day make it better.

Best wishes to the family of the lost hiker

[icelanticskier]

and i wasn't gonna mention this, but as i was booting up along lunch rocks, a group of 4 or 5 search and rescue folk, led by a local guide were hiking across the tucks trail towards the upper portion of the sluice that we were very carefully skiing and that i had skied 6 times the day before. now, i knew full well how sketchy the area was and felt ok being on skis by myself as i don't weigh that much and skis disperse the weight well. i watch in amazement as the guide steps out onto the slope to "test the waters" so to speak, and what do you know? all of the others start crossing right behind him all at once. i couldn't friggin believe what i was witnessing. 4-5 guys booting across a large undermined area. i thought we were gonna have to form our own search and rescue for the rescuers. rich couldn't believe it either as he was at the top.

when i got up there i looked at the guide, maybe from imcs and called him and his group out on it. i said, "you guys should probably crossing these slopes one at a time, don't ya think? he says back, "oh i know,we're looking for the lost hiker, do you know that this trail is closed?" thanx buddy, thanx for potentially putting yerself, yer group, and all of us skiers in a potentially dangerous situation. the rangers from hojos saw them and couldn't believe they were the search and rescue until they pulled out their binocs and were not impressed. people that should know better sure do stupid things sometimes.

rog

[bucksaw]

"oh i know,we're looking for the lost hiker, do you know that this trail is closed?"

That quote cracks me up. So what was he doing on the "closed" trail...

[RR]

That quote cracks me up. So what was he doing on the "closed" trail...
Same as ski patrol....

SAR is dangerous enough w/o the officials taking risks out of proportion with the task of simply going from point A to point B in the sweep pattern. It's not like the found someone alive but pinned under an ice chunk and then risked something in the course of removing them from immediate peril.

[M@]

According to this article (http://www.theunionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Search+called+off+for+missin g+hiker&articleId=945b70b6-2032-41e3-bb88-153c28d0c05a) the search has been called off.

M@

[brakeformoose]

On my way out yesterday I spoke with someone who was part of the SAR efforts who I will keep anonymous. He told me that that he had hiked the closed section of the TRT because they wanted to rule out the possibility that the man had hiked it but I am pretty sure he was alone when he was in the ravine. He had been focusing on Boott Spur, The ravine, and Lions Head but there was no way of knowing which way the man went.

[M@]

He told me that that he had hiked the closed section of the TRT
Sacra Blue! Say it isn't so.

I'm guessing you mean the Sherburne part of the TRT - which is supposed to be for skiing down only - as it is a very wide trail and its slope would lead to a lot of erosion if people were hiking up it all the time.

Let's hope he hiked down as opposed to up... that he had a good hike... and that he gets props for the search and rescue effort.

M@

[icelanticskier]

section of the tux trail was where we were skiing......on snow. that's probably what he meant, but who knows, just a wild guess.;)

rog

[brakeformoose]

Sacra Blue! Say it isn't so.

I'm guessing you mean the Sherburne part of the TRT - which is supposed to be for skiing down only - as it is a very wide trail and its slope would lead to a lot of erosion if people were hiking up it all the time.

Let's hope he hiked down as opposed to up... that he had a good hike... and that he gets props for the search and rescue effort.

M@

Nope, he hiked right on up the headwall along the TRT. It took some tricky navigating but he was able to make it all the way up. Certainly it was sketchy in places but I guess traveling alone was safer for him than bring 4 or 5 other rescuers out onto hazardous slops like rog was talking about.

[M@]

I sit corrected.

M@

[boardman]

I was up in the Southern Presis on both Tuesday and Wednesday and could see the blackhawk flying around. On the Crawford Path below Eisenhower we could see them focusing on the Dry river valley; which always seems to be the place that lost hikers end up.

It seems like this kind of stuff happens all too often but when considering the number of people that travel in these hills it is bound to happen. The hikeSafe program is great but we can only hope everyone gets the message. Some people just don't perceive the danger that can be found in these mountains.

Just yesterday on the summit cone of the rockpile I saw three people (clearly non-hikers from the cog) climbing down on some rocks. I had to call over to them to let them know that they were not actually on any trail and one of them gave me attitude saying they "came out of a secret cave". Their ignorance and attitude really put me in a bad mood until I let the views on such a fine day make it better.

Best wishes to the family of the lost hiker

yep, it's amazing how many bumblies make it up there despite themselves. A couple Octobers ago I took a few friends up the Rockpile via the TRT on a typical day -- light rain, moderate to high winds, temps around freezing on the cone, snow and hail falling up high, windchills in the single digits, i.e., an average fall day on Mt. Washington. We were outfitted in our Gore-Tex, carried packs with necessary ten essentials, etc. We encountered dozens of people hiking in jeans, cotton hoodies, even shorts! And you could just tell by lookin' at 'em that they just didn't spend much time, if any, in the woods/bc. Amazing more people don't bite it up there.

[samthaman]

so did they ever find this guy? sounds like no

[bucksaw]

so did they ever find this guy? sounds like no

Nope, nothing.

[jshefftz]

The short section of undermined snow (underneath Sluice) on the closed portion of the TRT was very easy to skirt around on Saturday (staying on rock and dirt). I don't know what it was like earlier in the week though. But by Saturday, for any skilled hiker (which I would hope SAR team members would be), the closed portion of the TRT could be safely searched without having to cross over undermined snow.

[icelanticskier]

The short section of undermined snow (underneath Sluice) on the closed portion of the TRT was very easy to skirt around on Saturday (staying on rock and dirt). I don't know what it was like earlier in the week though. But by Saturday, for any skilled hiker (which I would hope SAR team members would be), the closed portion of the TRT could be safely searched without having to cross over undermined snow.

there was A LOT more snow on tuesday and wednesday. it would've been no easy task to get up and around it then as we were still skiing from up around the corner where it was cliffs and waterfalls above. they were crossing over all undermined areas to get a look under and around to see if the guy may have fallen down under.

rog

[M@]

Another article today in the Union Leader (http://www.theunionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Family+of+missing+man+makes+ appeal+to+hikers&articleId=f0b06576-1806-45c8-b711-ddb200a6ce49)

Family of missing man makes appeal to hikers

Still no sign, but they are appealing to hikers to keep an eye out for signs - like his pack or something.

What other signs do the rescue searches look for?

And if nobody has answers to that, how about this question: Are you as sick as me seeing these type of open questions on social sites and forums?

M@

[RR]

Maybe I have recalled Waterman and also have been reading Agatha Christie...

I would like to know:
-what his doctor knows
-what his banker/broker knows
-what his lawyer knows
-the timing of any changes to his will
-whether he was a rich man
-are there competing interests vis a vis bequests and assigns

I comes to my mind that if he wished to vanish, he picked a great place.

[winters2short]

You pose a very interesting twist in your questions, Rob. Not a bad way to end it, if you wanted to end it. Or dissapear, only to reappear as Reginald Perrin. Thought the same thing a few months ago when the kayaker dissapearred of the Isles of Shoals. But then again, they found him dead a week or two later. Maybe much harder to find in the Whites if your intention was not to ever be found. Numerous have dissapearred in the wood never to be found. Anyone aware of family left behind. I had understood he lived alone.

[surfy]

Maybe I have recalled Waterman and also have been reading Agatha Christie...

I would like to know:
-what his doctor knows
-what his banker/broker knows
-what his lawyer knows
-the timing of any changes to his will
-whether he was a rich man
-are there competing interests vis a vis bequests and assigns



Don't forget to add who he has slept with.

[RR]

Don't forget to add who he has slept with.What, you think he's gone to Argentina?

It's pretty likely that he got up on the hill and ran into trouble. Some of the woods and screes would hide a prone person even if they were very close to a trail. The most obvious circumstances are probably closest to the truth..

It's a tough break for his kin. Not knowing is such a hard thing to bear.

[outlawjoseywale]

Looks like they may have found him...

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/07/body_recovered.html

[PwdrHound]

Damn! On Lions Head!!!! Terrible....

[RR]

Seems like another hiker lost to hypothermia and exaustion. We are none of us immune...

Godspeed.

[boardman]

damn, you have to figure that hundreds of people have passed by that spot since June, right? talk about hiding in plain sight . . . damn. condolences to his loved ones.

[TenSeven]

Mother Nature is beautiful and unforgiving.