Rescuers said an injured hiker used “sheer grit and determination” to help minimize the distance he needed to be carried while being rescued on Mount Washington Tuesday.
According to New Hampshire Fish and Game officials, they received a 911 call about an injured hiker on the Tuckerman Ravine Trail at around 3 p.m. on Tuesday, August 4. The hiker was reportedly near the Tuckerman Junction, roughly a half mile from the summit of Mount Washington.
The hiker, an 18-year-old from Massachusetts, had suffered a lower leg injury and reportedly could not bear weight on the injured leg. Conservation officers and volunteers from Androscoggin Valley Search and Rescue responded to this incident.
The hiker was hiking with eight other friends, and while he waited for the rescue crew to arrive, he attempted to make his way back towards the summit.
Officials said the hiker, with occasional assistance from his hiking companions, hopped, crawled and “otherwise used sheer grit and determination” to continue moving back up Tuckerman Ravine Trail towards the summit of Mount Washington.
As rescue personnel arrived, they were transported up the Mount Washington Auto Road to the summit and hiked down to the injured hiker.
The hiker had made it 0.3 miles by the time the first rescuers arrived on scene.
Once rescuers reached him, they placed a vacuum splint on his injured lower leg. He was placed in the litter and carried the final 0.2 miles.
At 5:55 p.m., the rescue crew made it to the summit, where the hiker was placed in a vehicle and transported down the Auto Road. He was then transferred to the Gorham Ambulance.
The hiker refused to be taken to a local hospital and instead said he’d seek treatment back at his home.
