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View Full Version : In the News (Oct 23/03): Hikers Recover From Fall Off Headwall

skicdave
10-23-2003, 03:14 PM
The Milford Daily News Reports:

Hikers recover from fall: Franklin woman and her Worcester boyfriend tell of N.H. rescue

By Emelie Rutherford / News Staff Writer
Thursday, October 23, 2003


FRANKLIN -- Elke Bengston left her Emerson Way home at 5:30 a.m. on Columbus Day, excited to hike a mountain for the first time.

The 28-year-old returned a day later, exhausted and wearing the same clothes she left in, after watching her boyfriend Anthony Valenti of Worcester fall off the mountain leaving her stranded on slippery rocks above a ravine.

He had landed on a narrow ledge, fracturing bones in the 60-foot fall, and was only inches away from a 600-foot drop to the bottom of a ravine. more (http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/local_regional/fran_hikers10232003.htm) From the Milford Daily News.
BladeGirl
10-23-2003, 06:39 PM
So let me get this strait: The girlfriend goes down the mountain to munch on rhubarb pie and sip coffee while her fella is trapped above the headwall (and I bet I can picture exactly where he was too!)?
TenSeven
10-23-2003, 06:49 PM
I've had first dates where it felt like I fell 60 feet as well. :drphil:
el-bagr
10-24-2003, 09:17 AM
Yeah, nothing beats a good slice of rhubarb pie with diner coffee after a day in :tucks: . I take my pie with straight rhubarb, no strawberries, and not much sugar.


Mmm, pie...
jdew
10-24-2003, 11:53 AM
Did you catch this:

"The two were talking, Bengston said, and unwittingly wandered off the trail into the brush. They walked further and found themselves at the top of a steep cliff -- the head wall of Tuckerman Ravine, a large glacial cirque on the east side of Mount Washington."

Last time I checked, the top of the head wall was above treeline.

:snowboarding:
DMC
10-24-2003, 12:11 PM
Well actually - the area above the Right Gulley and the Sluice is densely covered with small scrubby trees - it's called the Alpine Garden.

There's little routes through this dense stuff that lead towards the gulleys from the Lions Head trail. I could totally see how someone could take a worng path and end up looking straight down the Sluice.


Here's a shot of the Alpine Garden - between the top of the R.Gulley and the Sluice.
http://www.powderhound.org/2003/TR_04-19-03_Paul_AlpineGarden_4.jpg
DMC
10-24-2003, 12:18 PM
Another Alpine Garden shot - you can see the scrub is over the head..
http://www.powderhound.org/2003/TR_04-19-03_Bill_Paul_AlpineGarden.jpg
pepperdawg
10-24-2003, 01:04 PM
What time of year those pics taken? April?


:confused:

Thanks
DMC
10-24-2003, 01:13 PM
April 19th... Sweet day!
skicdave
10-24-2003, 04:26 PM
Nice 'fix' DMC. Tnx!

Definately not a good area to wander off trail.
DMC
10-25-2003, 07:11 AM
skicdave:
Definately not a good area to wander off trail. Very true.. But you can totally see where the rocks drop off and avoid the cliffs. I've scouted around up there to hit gulleys like Lobster Claw and the Sluice.

I think they just made a bad choice..
Jolly J
10-27-2003, 07:08 AM
I think they agree...
DMC
10-27-2003, 07:57 AM
yup...
It's all about making the right choice...

JJ- Stickered up my Tule Pod the other day...
Looks good!
I'll post a PIC later....
Jolly J
10-27-2003, 09:35 AM
Cool, it won't stop raining up here so I haven't put any new stickers on the hardtop of my Jeep yet. Soon.