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Lost Hiker: Four Days in a
Whiteout in the Northern Presidentials
Although slightly disoriented, his story soon came out: he had been out in the elements for the previous four days, three of which were spent in the alpine zone of Mt Adams. He’d been through a snowstorm that dropped over a foot of snow, and winds that had peaked at 114 MPH. He was quickly seated and fed hot soup and warm fluids, and Sylvain Robillard, of Montreal, told his story. An avid adventurist and former member of the Canadian military, Mr. Robillard is a frequent seeker of challenges. His stories range from volcanoes in Mexico to swamps in Louisiana. However, he also comes prepared for adventure: for this winter hike, he relied on his military training but also avalanche awareness courses, map and compass use, and a thorough set of winter gear, with spare food and fuel, and well insulated clothing. He was prepared for multiple nights in winter wilderness. The original plan was to head up Mt Jefferson, via the Caps Ridge trail, and follow the ridgeline to Mt Adams and then to the RMC’s Crag Camp, then heading down into the Great Gulf, only to climb out of it the next day via the Great Gulf trail. This route is highly untraditional, as the access road to the Caps Ridge trail is not maintained in winter. More importantly, and dangerously, the steep cliffs in and out of the Great Gulf become sheer slabs of snow, most of them avalanche- ready. For this reason, most hikers opt for a traditional route across the ridgeline of the Northern Peaks, avoiding the Great Gulf. Mr. Robillard changed his plans, yet they remained untraditional. Starting from Pinkham Notch on Tuesday evening, he headed across the Auto Road and the Old Jackson Road trail into the snow-filled Great Gulf, where the unbroken Madison Gulf trail led him astray. Wednesday had brought deep snows into the woods, with wind sculpting deeper drifts on Thursday and Friday. As the snow piles in, blazes disappear and the path of the trail can barely be distinguished from brooks and gullies. Moving slowly with a heavy pack, sinking in snow up to his waist, Mr. Robillard spent his first night along the base of the Madison Gulf trail, or at least what he thought was the Madison Gulf trail. The next day, he headed towards the summit of Mt. Adams. High winds on Thursday kept Mr. Robillard on the edges of timberline. The summit of Mt Washington, at the Observatory, recorded a peak wind gust of 114 MPH. On Friday, when the winds died down, Mr. Robillard attempted to break across the alpine zone over Mt Adams. “I know the north side of Adams well, and I knew that if I just got to the other side I’d be fine,” he said. He picked his way up the southern slope, out of the Great Gulf, dropping his pack to break trail, then returning for his pack. Using this advance and retrieve method, he inched his way above treeline to find himself in a whiteout, with drifted snow blocking the path and ground blizzards cutting visibility. High winds make the use of a map and compass difficult to impossible in these conditions. The temperatures were in the single digits, and winds were in the 40-50 mph range. He spent his third night outside bivouacked on the side of Mt. Adams. Friday was also the day that Mr. Robillard had originally planned to come out of the woods. When his wife did not hear from him, she sounded the alert with the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC), who then passed the call onto the US Forest Service and N.H. Fish and Game, the two agencies responsible for rescues in the Presidential Range (the USFS is responsible for the Cutler River drainage, commonly understood as Tuckerman and Huntington Ravines, with NH Fish and Game covering the rest). Due to the established experience of Mr. Robillard, emergency teams such as Androscoggin Valley Search and Rescue were contacted, and put on standby until Sunday morning. Weighing the variables of Wednesday’s snow and Thursday and Friday’s wind, and based on Mr. Robillard’s experience, emergency crews figured, correctly, that he was hunkered down in the storm and would make himself known once conditions improved. This was no lost day hiker, this was an experienced and well-prepared mountaineer. On Saturday morning, the AMC notified the RMC, a volunteerbased mountain club that has a caretaker in the wintertime at Gray Knob. At 4,370 feet, Gray Knob is at the edge of timberline on the northern slopes of Mt. Adams, and was the closest facility to where Mr. Robillard was expected to be. Juliane Hudson, the caretaker, received a radio call to be on the lookout for a lost hiker. While remaining in the clouds on Saturday, the winds lessened significantly (with Mt Washington recording a wind speed of 22 MPH at 5 a.m.), and Mr. Robillard was able to make his way across the alpine zone to Gray Knob, arriving shortly after dark. Ms. Hudson, out on her nightly check of the three other shelters the RMC owns, was relieved to return and find Mr. Robillard alive and well, and being cared for by the other guests. “I was really happy,” she said. “Other people had turned away from traversing the ridge, it was a terrible time to be out.” Mr. Robillard attributes his survival to his knowledge and experience. “I used all my survival skills,” he said, from his winter avalanche classes to his years spent in the Canadian military. Importantly, he also credits his two good luck charms: “Junior,” a 10-inch long knife, and “Peter Rabbit,” a blue stuffed bunny rabbit hanging on the side of his pack, his companion for the past six years. Undaunted by his foray into winter wilderness, his next winter hiking trip will be in a few months. He tells this story with the voice of calm experience and cool calculation. What he was nervous about, when he was hiking down from Gray Knob, was dealing with his worried wife. But first he wanted to stop in Gorham for pizza. Reprinted with permission from The Berlin Reporter. Back to Table of Contents - RMC Newsletter, Summer 2009
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When
the solo hiker came into the Randolph Mountain Club’s (RMC)
Gray Knob Cabin on the evening of Saturday, January 31, the entrance
was unremarkable: he was just another latearriving visitor with
a heavy pack and a frosted face mask. The other guests, settling
down to dinner and tending to their gear, informed him that the
cabin was full and he’d have to find space elsewhere.