TRAVEL SAFELY ABOVE               TREELINE Bob Humphrey, education chair of AMC’s New Hampshire Chapter, has taught safe winter hiking in the Whites for more than 10 years. Here are his tips for safe travel above treeline: 1. If you are going into the Whites, know where you are going. Everything is white in the winter above treeline—trees look like cairns and cairns disappear. It is essential that you have the trail knowledge and resources to know where to go. 2. Become a weather person. Begin following a reliable weather source, such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or the Mount Washington Observatory the week before the hike. Pay close attention three days before, and keep an eye out for fronts approaching; any kind of snowstorm will be a problem above treeline. 3. If it isn’t a good weather day, don’t go. If it’s 10 degrees below at the trailhead, it’s not a good idea to go up. If winds are over 50 mph, it will be extremely hard to stay upright and to see in blowing snow, even on a sunny day. 4. Bring snowshoes, even if the trail appears packed down. They are essential gear. So are 10-point crampons, full face protection, and enough gear and clothing to have a fighting chance of survival if you must spend the night in the elements. (See hikeSafe’s Full Gear List.) 5. Go winter hiking with a group. Share the load of the gear needed. Keep watch for frostbite and hypothermia. Stay together. A safe winter group consists of at least four people (one to stay with an injured party and two to go for help). 6. Treat the trees as your friends. Don’t stop above treeline! Even if you are off-trail and must bushwhack, when the weather is bad, get down into the trees. AMC’S New Hampshire Chapter offers winter workshops at Cardigan Lodge Jan. 22 and Feb. 26. Learn more by visiting the chapter's website or contact Bob Humphrey.

Poor planning is the third reason people end up in trouble. “You need to know what you’re getting into and be prepared to handle the worst situations so you’re not surprised,” says Pedersen. “It’s essential to be prepared physically, to be fit enough to do the hike in a reasonable amount of time, and mentally, for route finding and decision making, handling the weather, and dealing with anything that may arise.”

THE COSTS OF RESCUE
Locating a lost hiker in the 200,000-acre search area surrounding the Franconia Ridge takes an enormous amount of resources. A major three-day search can require up to 50 individuals, hiking for more than eight hours each day in the most extreme weather conditions. It takes a concerted effort from the entire New Hampshire search and rescue (SAR) community, including Fish and Game, the U.S. Forest Service, the New Hampshire Division of Parks and Recreation, and 10 talented, dedicated volunteer teams, including AMC, the Mountain Rescue Service (MRS), the Androscoggin Valley SAR, and the Pemigewasset Valley SAR team. It also takes a large amount of money.

A multi-day SAR that includes the National Guard (like those that often occur on the Franconia Ridge) can cost up to $25,000, according to Bogardus. As incidents rise, so do rescue costs for equipment, staff, and flight crews. In 2008, the Fish and Game Department conducted 158 search and rescues and went over its $200,000 SAR budget—funded through snowmobile and boat licenses—by $45,000.
 
In July 2008 the New Hampshire legislature passed a law that lowered the threshold for charging hikers for their rescues from reckless (the first standard established in 1999) to negligent. To be found reckless, a hiker had to have been aware of the risk and consciously disregarded it—such as being told to turn back by snow rangers and continuing on anyway. A negligent hiker, however, is any “reasonable person who knew better,” says Bogardus; someone like Gagnon, who failed to thoroughly check the weather before embarking on a 9-mile winter hike, fits this definition.

The final decision comes down from the state’s attorney general in each case, and not all hikers receive bills; there is no charge in instances of death, for example. “Fredrickson,” Bogardus says, “already paid the ultimate price.” Hikers deemed negligent may be billed for the full cost, an average of $1,000 for straightforward rescues and more than $10,000 for complex SAR missions. Since the law passed, there have been 152 SAR incidents, and only 10 hikers have been billed. The fees that have been assessed amount to $33,857, of which only $8,000 has been recovered. Bogardus says the law won’t solve any of the department’s financial crises, but he hopes it will promote better judgment.

Controversy surrounds the policy of billing lost hikers. Some opponents of the law mistakenly consider it a “money grab,” says Chris Thayer, AMC White Mountain facilities director and president of the volunteer, nonprofit New Hampshire Outdoor Council, which promotes safe hiking practices and provides financial assistance (received through donations) to SAR groups throughout New Hampshire. “But the original—and the consistent, current intention—is to lead with hikeSafe education efforts while also having the statute tool in the toolbox to enforce when needed.”

OUT OF THE WOODS
On Monday morning, after 40 hours of extensive search over 45 miles, five drainages, and four peaks, Fish and Game Conservation Officer Brad Morse and MRS members Fred Wilkinson, Bayard Russell, and Jim Shimberg discovered Gagnon’s trail. With the help of a clear day, they located Gagnon’s footprints just off the summit of Lafayette and followed his “breadcrumbs”—hiking poles, Nalgene bottle, burned Thermarest pad—one mile to the southernmost drainage of Franconia Brook, an area where rain and snowmelt drain into the brook in warm weather. There they found Gagnon huddled in his life-saving -20 degree sleeping bag, in disbelief that the flash of red he had seen was really a rescuer’s jacket and not some figment of his imagination. Miraculously, Bogardus says he was in “relatively good shape,” suffering mild hypothermia, superficial frostbite to his hands and feet, and second-degree frostbite on his lower back. Relieved and grateful, he was lifted by cable into the helicopter.

“I think that the will to go on played a big part in my survival,” Gagnon says. “I just focused on making it hour by hour. I knew the stories about those who had made really rash decisions from hypothermia and I was determined to avoid that fate.” Gagnon was elated to return to loved ones and thankful for the rescue community’s efforts. He was later charged $7,000 (on top of $3,000 already donated by his family) for his rescue. He paid the state with a loan from his grandfather, but it was the experience that taught him the most valuable lesson. “I would definitely watch the weather if going above 3,000 feet or to the top of a mountain,” he says. “Now, if it wasn’t good, it would keep me into the lower elevations.”

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