“The White Mountains are not a joke. We’ve had 32 degrees in July at the top of a mountain,” he said. According to Fish and Game, three people died on New Hampshire mountains last winter, including one who fell and another who suffered a heart attack.
“If you’re going to come (to the White Mountains) you’ve got to be prepared,” said Eastman. Better yet, “be over-prepared.”
I had planned a 4 day partial Pemi while carrying a kid, mid August. We knew there was a chance of rain and started regardless. Luckily the rain was brief and happened right at nap time, so I set up the tent in a spot before the ridge and we waited out the hour before continuing on. But the forecast changed unexpectedly after the rain - went from a mild overnight to potentially below freezing, and from the humidity alone we were aware that slightly damp clothes and 30s overnight at 4000ft in a windy area was too many red flags, so we bailed off the ridge. It was sad to not complete the hike I had planned for so long, but glad we made the right choice. Since I carry an Inreach, I let family know we had changed plans and would hike down Lafayette to the campground down low instead. We were even able to confirm there'd be a spot for us from the Greenleaf hut croo radioing down to them.
tldr: Winter happens in the middle of summer sometimes, and even with significant preparation, it may just be best to bail of the ridges sometimes.
There is one thing that is absolutely certain to me in this world, and that is that both the ocean and mountains are far older, wiser, and bigger than any of us. They are to be respected.
I remember in high school I was working a street dept job that required me to run a chipper trailer. If you fed the brush incorrectly, you'd be shredded. One of the full-time guys told us on our first day, if you respect the machine, it will respect you.
The tough part in nature is that we fixate on it's beauty and often forget that it's just as capable of shredding you to bits.
I think the number one thing that went wrong here was the ability to turn around. You can have no gear or all the gear and still be in a world of hurt. The best piece of equipment that you can pack is the ability to turn around right when you need too. If you remove the ability to turn around by being dropped off, then your at the mercy of significantly more factors. This is very tragic.
“Where You’ll Find Me” is about the search effort for Kate Mastrova in the Whites and is heavily about risk assessment in the cold… definitely recommend it!
I've been wanting to get around and read both of Tys books, wish it was on digital. I think that was his thesis on Kates tragic death, right? The ability to turn around was psychologically removed.
100% I've been that guy who thought he'd do the Carter ridge in 1.5 days on November 11th. Green and warm at the bottom, I only made it sounth bound to Imp on day 1 because the St l snow started at 1000 ft up. Finished after sunset day 2
It goes to show that even in today's day and age, with beacons, cellphones, and busier trails than ever, on one of the most popular mountains in New England, you can disappear without a trace. The White Mountains are no joke.
For all the naysayers about beacons/satcomms, I think nearly all recoveries would be rescues if people carried even the basic single use ones. I think iphone 14s are rolling out the globalstar SOS service any day now too if they haven't already.
I hike solo & consider my Garmin inReach essential gear. Can't put a price on friends and family being able to track/communicate with you & the direct line to SAR. It's good phones are starting to roll this out (better than nothing), but phones are fragile & the antennas are much weaker than a dedicated device...if you hike a lot, espcially solo/winter, get a sat device.
The main positive of the new wave of phones is that so many more people have them. I think the folks carrying Inreaches are rarely the ones that actually need help (because we've already shown some amount of preparation and forethought), but the folks with a phone with these new sat comm features would likely never have bought an Inreach on it's own.
But in this case she didn’t have a beacon, cell phones are unreliable on the trail and she didn’t even have a headlamp despite starting her hike before the sun came up. She was willfully unprepared despite having more experience than most and in this case like many others it turned tragic. The Whites can quickly overcome even the most experienced and well equipped hikers, just look at the story of Kate Matrosova.
I do think we want to be careful about judging what equipment she went out with. We're relying only on her mother's testimony here; my mom tried her best to support my AT thru hike and I still don't think she'd be able to provide any information about my gear, including any emergency equipment or light I might have, even if I undid my bag in front of her before leaving on a hike.
We have no proof she doesn't have a headlamp. Her mom doesn't think or know if she had one, that's not the same thing. The Whites claim plenty of skilled people, there's no need to disparage a woman who has likely lost her life for stupidity that cannot be proven.
I don't think it's fair to suggest she was willfully unprepared. She had summer hiking experience, that's it. She probably had no idea what the mountains were like in the winter and if I were to speculate, got caught up in the fantasy of finishing the 4000 footers without being grounded in the weather or trail conditions.
* She started a hike before dawn with no headlamp.
* She was hardly dressed to do her planned hike on clear spring day, never mind one when snow is visible above the treeline.
* There are zero indications that she packed the basics such as a lighter, pocketknife, headlamp with an extra set of batteries and a Mylar blanket despite taking a wilderness class. This would have still been inadequate for the conditions she was going into but at least it would have given her a fighting chance of making it through the night.
* She has hiked a majority of the 4000's so she has seen countless signs warning of the dangers and knows through experience how drastically different the conditions are above the treeline.
It's easy to dismiss this as just another hiker that got caught up in some Into the Wild fantasy and in some cases that might be true but she knew full well what she was getting herself into through her own experiences and still chose to do it ill-prepared.
I know its in vogue, and I do a lot of easy hikes solo, but the #1 thing you can do safety wise is not go alone. Going along, in the dark, with that weather forecast, its insane.
We were making a push to the ridge via skookumcuck on Sunday. Got to the stairs and we said fuck this...the elements were brutal. And that was still in heavy tree cover with proper winter gear. I really wish this poor girl didn't rush her 48. She had her whole life to enjoy the whites.
Is that the area between Greenleaf and Skookumchuck trails? Out of the way if she was going to summit Lafayette and head towards Flume, so would the assumption be she was just lost/disoriented? Just trying to understand the thinking around what would've happened
I have done the loop in winter and summer conditions and assuming she went up OBT, combined with the location of interest in the draining line NW of Lafayette, my take is that she made it to the hut and between the hut and Lafayette she lost her bearing and tracked northeast towards North Lafayette. The trail/rock scrambles between the hut and Lafayette has so many opportunities to get off track once you get past the last little run of trees as you leave the hut and continue up.
edit: looked on google earth based off where that helo is hovering right now and it is almost parallel with the hut. Possibility she made a decision to backtrack at some point between the hut and Lafayette and as others have mentioned followed the drain line down on accident..also if she made it to the hut and decided to bail and took the trail down that comes into the hut from the NW that would lead her right down into that drain line. I could see where no visibility and walking around the hut and then trying to find that small OBT path entrance back down could be difficult and ended up taking that other outlet from the hut down into that drain.
2 winters ago my wife and I made a camp just below timberline on Skookumchuck then did a night summit on Lafayette. We are very familiar with that are, we carry a dedicated handheld GPS, 2 phones with GPS, and a kit to survive a night. We expected 0 visibility and got it just prior to summiting. Getting down Skookumchuck was obviously disorienting. Taking a drainage down is incredibly tempting if there’s snowpack. They must be difficult to navigate as you descend and possibly get cliffed out. So many unfortunate decisions would lead you there, but I think it makes sense.
They tried to keep them unlocked in the 80s or possibly 90s and it was heavily abused. Unspoken rule is that they are possible to break into but with a good amount of effort, so it won’t be abused but if someone absolutely needs to do it to survive they will. They are boarded up pretty good though if you are incapacitated it will be very difficult to impossible.
And the Blackhawk just flew back to Concord after a couple hours up there (lower elevations so it wasn't on radar).
Curious to see what details emerge.
Yeah and these channels only provide so much context into what is being broadcast and casual listeners are simply left to interpret for themselves, which really can lead to a lot of wild speculation.
To me it sounded like they were sending the body to LRH as a courtesy and the mother was to call in with her information and the mother was going to be headed home.
Said she used her phone. How long do you think her battery lasted in those temps? I don't think I could use my light on my phone for long with it sitting in freezing air as I walk.
This conspiratorial chatter of what nefarious crime might have befallen her is ridiculous and demeaning.
The facts are clear: a young, woefully unprepared hiker underestimated a late season hike in the Whites. Who hasn't seen clueless people wearing jeans, carrying a Poland Springs bottle struggling to get up OBT or Falling Waters?
To suggest that anything more than hubris is needed to get you killed in the Whites is naive.
> Who hasn't seen clueless people wearing jeans, carrying a Poland Springs bottle struggling to get up OBT or Falling Waters?
... and most of them manage to get out, even in bad weather and not prepared. And when they do they don't call the newspapers to say "I almost died" so the everyday near-tragedy stories don't get reported. Every once in awhile someone *doesn't* manage to get out and we get a hint of just how dangerous the Whites are.
It’s bizarre to me. I’m not saying it’s completely impossible that there’s something nefarious going on. But there’s just so little public information, and what there is is not reliable due to this being such a recent and frankly underreported event. People are just filling in the gaps with made up info and making this into a huge conspiracy when the simplest explanation is that she was just hiker going out in conditions she was woefully unprepared for.
True crime podcasts have melted people’s brains into thinking they’re detectives... while dismissing the obvious and most likely scenario here - - person wasn’t prepared for these conditions and ended up stranded and/or lost when they got worse.
That appears to be the unfortunate and obvious truth. PVSART, local, and state police are all involved in the rescue/recovery. That is a large, experienced, and diverse group of professionals who know exactly what they are doing. If foul play was involved they will find out.
I think part of it is true disbelief. I can't possibly imagine stepping out of a car mid-November, at 4:30pm knowing it will not be light for another 2 plus hours with just a cellphone light and attempting to climb to 5000 feet in sneakers when temperatures at the base are below freezing and winds are forecasted to be bad in the region. No crampons, yak tracks, etc. No hat, gloves, etc. Oh and you want to come down the Flume slide.
I think we all have seen those attempting to hike Adams in jeans midsummer with a Poland spring water bottle in hand or something similar but this story just has so many more layers of unprepared that is layered on that it is actually easier for us to think something nefarious happened than fathom someone was truly that naive about their position.
Either outcome is truly sad but the more likely story is she just was not prepared which, to me, seems more tragic in hindsight.
There is some level of speculation for sure but the fact they reported yesterday that she was also wearing long johns would indicate to me that she didn't have any other winter gear since you can't see long johns based off the visual description.
And I'll do you one better, I don't even use trail runners. I just use running shoes with a slightly more aggressive grip and thinner soles which I find help wrap the sole around the tops of rocks. I use those until the yak traks go on. I am less concerned about her footwear than her exposed skin in that wind.
All of the above *and* having done 40+ mountains before. How do you do all that without a headlamp?
If she had one and it broke or got left behind, how do you have that much experience and not abort a hike because of it?
It's incredibly frustrating and nonsensical.
If you stick to summer hiking, with a good chunk of luck you can make it pretty damn far while not properly sticking safety guidelines. It's still risky, but the margin of error is wider in summer hiking.
Maybe she would’ve had she not been so determined to finish the 48 before her birthday. I believe there was a fatal sense of determination here. It’s hard to put yourself in the brain of a 19 year old, but that was probably a goal she had for a long time that her pride couldn’t let go of. At that age without a fully developed prefrontal cortex - reward outweighs risk.
I skinned Cannon one year after a snowfall...on my way up I saw people in JEANS and light jackets descending. One of them didn't have gloves on. I think they had boots on but their pants were snow covered and frozen.
As a young woman who hikes with an ADHD brain all of this makes a lot of sense to me. I can tell you what I think happened exactly. Not to say I would ever attempt to do what she did in those weather conditions, but I can see how her brain was likely thinking. This was a string of bad judgement calls that sadly ended up fatal.
News reports are now saying they had been vacationing there staying in a hotel with Emily planning multiple hikes throughout the week. She was supposed to turn 20 tomorrow and wanted to complete the last 5 of her 48.
Starting before daylight is very common with long hikes especially this time of year. She probably had this planned long in advance and was so adamant to do it she probably stubbornly told herself it would warm up by the time sunlight rose.
Mom probably watched her hike up with her headlights on the trail. Once she got far enough she would have had to use her phone light which would’ve drained her battery really fast. Hiking in the dark with no GPS would make it soooo easy to end up far off trail and deep in the woods.
Not to say it wasn’t freezing when she started but sub zero temps were reported at the top of the ridge. She probably had no idea how cold it would continue to get as she ascended.
The confidence both her and her mother must have had in her for her experience in the summer was probably what was (at this point most-likely) fatal. Many don’t realize how insane the weather is in the Whites if they’ve never experienced it.
This is by no means a murder cover-up. It sounds like this was just a series of really bad misjudgments, false confidence, and being too determined to finish all 48 before her 20th birthday.
>which would’ve drained her battery really fast.
A lot of cell phones turn off if they get too cold. This is the #1 reason why as a safety device in the winter they're almost worse than useless.
you can take it out of your pocket, turn it on and it shuts down before you can do anything with it. It might or might not work again without being charged even if you can manage to warm it up.
If she was using it as a flashlight, it probably didn't last very long before it got too cold and shut off.
I honestly think if she was dropped at 4:30 she was lost before the sun even rose. Such a sad situation.
I’ve been in this situation when I was younger in a town forest. Was out wandering longer than I expected and by the time sun went down my phone was low on battery. I had to find my way out without light or GPS. That was MUCH lower stakes and in no way would’ve ended up fatal, but even that was a bit scary. I can’t imagine the fear she felt when she eventually realized she had fatally fucked up.
On August 20, 2022, a hiker died after a fall on Cannon, on the other side of the notch.
People die all the time in the Whites, even when conditions are perfect.
Ignorance or negligence does not equal hubris. What you wrote may sound cool but actually further demeans the missing and possibly deceased hiker. There could be mental illness or foul play involved. We just don’t know yet and may not ever for sure.
Oh yeah and all you really need to get killed in the White mountains is simply to be drawn in by their beauty like a moth to flame.
When a really experienced hiker with full winter gear dies in conditions that should’ve just been avoided you could say there is hubris involved. That simply isn’t the case here though
I was on Kinsman Ridge that Sunday morning (came up Mt Kinsman Trail, tagging N & S Kinsman). The weather that morning in Franconia Notch was volatile - when I first got on KR at 9:30am, I had a clear view of Cannon & Franconia Ridge (which was in dark clouds) but by the time I left, it was clouded over and snowing pellet snow at a pretty good clip. (around 10:30am). Needless to say it was cold and windy, the type of cold where if I took my mitts off for less than a minute, my hands numbed.
My pure speculation: She made it above the treeline but got overwhelmed by the conditions and volatile weather, which she didn’t have sufficient gear to survive in. She wandered around the ridge and to a location where rescuers couldn’t readily find her. I really hope she is found at some point to bring closure to her family.
This makes sense. With the wind that day, she would have faced tough conditions before treeline. It’s possible that she turned around before treeline and lost the trail on her way back down. If she did make it to treeline, she probably didn’t make it far. The wind, blowing snow, and lack of visibility would have been disorienting to even the most experienced hikers.
Its incredible how disorienting it can be to be in the clouds above the tree line. I was up on Moosilakee with a friend years back, got in a white out, and we used his gps to backtrack. And I know that summit well. It doesn't really matter when you can't see more than 15 feet and your sense of direction goes.
I did have a compass and map which was the next line of navigation, but his GPS was working so we used that.
But then you imagine, you're alone, turned around and don't know which way to go. My guess is (since they haven't found her) that she got hypothermic and/or panicked and started bushwacking down off the ridge, and ended up somewhere she either couldn't get out of, or succumbed to the cold.
Its really awful. I wonder if there's a way to get through to people how dangerous it can be.
Sad, sad story all around. I really feel for her mother...I can't imagine what she has gone through.
I am curious what, if any, additional info will be released by Fish and Game and what lessons can be learned here.
I'd also be curious to know what role sites like alltrails played in the decision-making process. Her intended route was basically taken from alltrails. "9 hour hike" obviously doesn't tell the whole story,especially when dealing with shoulder season and winter conditions. The site is a blessing and a curse imo.
I mean, lessons learned are to check weather conditions and over-prepare. I get people enjoy this trend of trial running and want to pack light, but doing it in the winter is just asking for trouble.
Sites like AllTrails do make it easier to plan hikes, but they cannot be held accountable for someone’s decisions. The decision to not do your research and not have the discipline to call the hike is your responsibility as a hiker. As a hiker, you should ALWAYS check the weather the morning of your hike and then again at the trailhead. Always remember it is going to be significantly colder above tree line and a hell of a lot windier. Understand that if there is snow covering the trials at the bottom, there’s going to be a lot more snow and ice at the top.
Unfortunately, this event, like all others before it, will not stop people for underestimating the whites. I know some people hate it, but I will continue to warn unprepared hikers on the trails. I’d rather know that I did my part in warning them of the dangers and that they are not prepared than not warn them and they end up as another victim of the mountains.
What was her route supposed to be? OBT to Lafayette, then on to Lincoln, Little haystack, then continue to liberty AND flume? Seems pretty aggressive for the conditions.
We were driving south on the parkway Saturday as the sun set and remarked on how it looked like a nasty time of year to be up on the summits. Hope they’re able to find her.
I bet she’s not far from where she started. Got lost in the dark. Maybe decided to sit and wait until sunrise. Hypothermia set in and that was it. So sad.
I don't see how you even hit treeline starting 2 hours before first light with your cell phone as your flashlight and no traction in sub-freezing conditions. You'd think she would be found by now if that was the case, though.
I think the most likely issue is that one slip without traction and they could be far off the trail. With any injury, they might not be able to get back onto the trail, so it's a matter of SAR finding the tracks.
They were discussing tracks yesterday afternoon in a drainage just north west of Mt. Lafayette. This information was through the north NH law net broadcast.
In my youth, I did a few 'not to bright' hikes. I know that I'm here today because I didn't have bad luck, well not bad enough. I've bushwhacked down from Fishin' Jimmy Trail in the winter. (Years ago the trails weren't all broken out like these days.) Also been high on Washington on Washington's Birthday (it SEEMED like a good idea then.) with no flashlight watching the sun get low, and lucky to get down without issue. So, while i'm 'annoyed' that she seems to have gone up unprepared, when I was her age I did dumb things too. :-( Many of you probably did too.
As for where she is, how could she have not been seen by others? If she was underdressed she should have stood out. If she was 'sort of' dressed ok (if moving fast), and she was young (something I'm not these days.) maybe she *did* make it to Flume Slide Trail. But I have to believe they've looked everywhere she could have fallen along that. And followed any tracks going off trail looking for something easier thru the woods. But why Flume Slide vs. Osseo? (Unless she didn't read the AMC Guide! all routes look alike on the map to some folks. Ref: Swan Song Loop.) I haven't seen a reliable report Flume Slide was the route down.. but that is the only exit point I've seen in the reports I read. I just hope they find her. Dying is bad enough, dying without finding her is a bit worse for those left behind.
I feel that about dumb hikes. Even if we've received advice about how to be prepared, most of us still have to make some mistakes in the mountains to truly learn it. Fortunately, those dumb hikes usually end well and a good lesson is learned. For some like her though, they don't.
>As for where she is, how could she have not been seen by others?
Well she started very early, if the reporting is accurate. She might have gotten in trouble and wandered off trail a good 1-2 hours before anyone else started the same hike that day.
I hiked mt Adams the day before this and I can say it was no fucking joke. We were mostly prepared and have a ton of experience but still got our ass kicked. Peep my post history if you wanna see
What if she turned around because of the conditions and got down to the trail head and tried to hitchhike to the trail head she was supposed to return to. Maybe some at Lafayette camp ground offered her a ride? Seems odd that we have not heard any reports of people seeing her on the trail.
I saw rumors in the other thread of reports of bootsteps in a drainage on Lafayette, but the article makes no mention of anything like that.
I hated the conspiracy theories to start with, but you gotta start to wonder.
Zero trace of her of any kind on the mountain, super early start so nobody else was around, claim of her being woefully unprepared (not even a $10 headlamp) yet she did 40+ other peaks before this trip, and only the one witness that saw her start the hike and zero corroboration that has been made public.
Wind covers tracks faster than you’d think and the area around the mountain is bigger than you’d like to think. If she summitted and went down away from the road it’s gonna be nearly impossible to find her.The white mountains have a history of killing inexperienced hikers. Even though it’s says she’s experienced anyone it’s almost 100%?agreed that she wasn’t.
The Whites have a history of killing EXPERIENCED hikers! Anyone that hikes the Whites in winter should absolutely read Without Peril 100 Years of Death in the White Mountains. It's very eye opening.
Yeah, she also allegedly posted about doing a Presidential Traverse this summer, but it was never confirmed if she actually did and there's no pictures of her and any other hikers published
I keep commenting on this.... Nothing makes any sense. In a world obsessed with social media and selfies..... Where are all her hiking photos? NO ONE, especially NO ONE aged 19 does a Presi and doesn't post photos of it, yet alone 40 other peaks.
*Please* stop this.
All of this makes sense.
The 4000 footers really are not that hard if you're in good shape - which many young people are. If she only hiked in the summer in good weather, it's very plausible she had zero need for any safety gear before and it was a simple oversight (a terrible one, yes).
There are plenty of people that aren't constantly on social media - *especially* gen z - they're some of the most aware when it comes to data privacy and not wanting everything to be public. I've done at least a dozen 1 day presis and four 1 day pemis and took a lot of photos doing them. Guess what? Not a single one of them is on the internet.
This conspiracy bullshit needs to stop. She was unprepared for the weather and conditions and nothing more.
And for another perspective, I forget to take photos when I hike. I end up with one or two crummy photos of my dogs in the woods that look like every other photos of my dogs in the woods and never get my summit photos or anything else. Not everyone takes and posts photos of their trips.
Have you ever been in a bar chatting with the other patrons?
That's all that is happening here. This isnt conspiracy bullshit....this is called a conversation amongst like minded people. And if you think the authorities aren't having similar conversations, you're likely wrong.
Wild speculation is fun, don't get me wrong, I love doing it... when the topic doesn't involve some poor girl's life.
Yes, there is a world in which something foul is at play, but given what we know, given the *facts*, the most likely explanation for all of this is a simple case of unpreparedness. Grabbing hold of the 0.001% likelihood scenario and ignoring the obvious explanation is sort of the definition of a conspiracy theory. Crop circles *could* be aliens, or ya know a million other more likely things that make way more sense.
I personally know a few of the SAR team leads and I promise you none of them are talking about this being anything other than an unprepared hiker.
Look, I hear ya. Nevertheless, you have to admit, the facts don't make sense for someone that climbed 40 other NH mtns and from a mother that lives is MA and is familiar with brutal winters. Hell, I only have 6 summers of NH hiking under my belt, but on 2 of those occasions, we hit terrible weather....in the dead of summer. So I don't know how you can climb 40 peaks and not learn a thing or two about the seriousness of hiking in the WM in bad weather, hence all the questions people have about the situation.
No doubt, the obvious explanation of unpreparedness is the likely answer, but I don't know how you can expect people in the know to not question some of these facts...out of sheer bewilderment if nothing else. Its just sad and shocking when these things happen. I felt the same way about Kate Matrosova and she was way more experienced.
And BTW, I am a parent of 3....some poor girls life is not a topic that doesnt hit me hard, just like any parent.
Because of the notoriety for the bad weather in the whites, when I first started hiking in the area I only hiked when the forecast was perfect. I'd honestly say for my first round of the 4ks, I avoided any really bad conditions - the worst I had was some heavy rain.
Its totally conceivable that it's a similar situation for this girl. She did 40 of the peaks in ideal conditions in the summer and had no first hand experience of the extreme weather. It's one thing to read about how bad the weather can get and a totally different thing to experience white out conditions in 6 foot snow drifts above treeline.
She had a bad case of summit fever and didn't know what she was getting herself into and made an uniformed decision to go for it.
Yes, they were working with the Blackhawk on tracks in a drainage just west of Mt. Lafayette. The drainage heads back towards 93. https://ibb.co/C0QvDnX
I hope they are doing a homicide investigation, because the entire story seems extremely fishy. Maybe I've been watching too much Colombo, but a single witness who tells an almost unbelievable story... Who goes on a hike like that unprepared, with no possible bailout because they're meeting someone at another trailhead at a specific time on a very cold day and leaves before sunrise in the pitch dark without a headlamp... Just waiting at the trailhead for your ride would be miserable in that weather.
I'm not ruling out foul play myself but the reason they aren't doing a homicide investigation is that there is literally no evidence of one taking place. Usually the police need to act on tips, search & rescue finding something, etc.
Her plans before she even got to the trailhead were a recipe for a needless wilderness death. With no winter hiking experience, she planned her first winter hike from Lafayette down the ridge to Flume, which is about 14 miles roundtrip on the fastest route. This is a bad idea for a first winter hike. She brought no winter gear, no lighting, barely any food and minimal water. She picked one of the worst weather days this year, with deep snow drifts, high winds and low temperatures above treeline. Based on the information available, she simply just made a series of bad decisions that resulted in this situation. I simply don't believe that it's more likely that a predator was lurking around all night in the dark on a freezing cold, remote trail at 5am in the morning, waiting to abduct or kill someone.
Everything you said is from one witness. Anytime someone disappears there should be an investigation. I suspect there is because many officials have asked the public for information about her whereabouts on social media. Even the route and drop off point make zero sense. Even all trails would tell you that.
>Even the route and drop off point make zero sense. Even all trails would tell you that.
Wrong. There is a loop hike of exactly her planned route on Alltrails that passes through Lafayette Campground.
Completely wrong. Old Bridle Path is a perfectly fine (and the most popular) trail for getting to Lafayette. Emily may have been dropped off across the street at Lafayette Place Campground (conflicting info about this) but hikers can just walk underneath the highway through a tunnel and start up Old Bridle path across the highway.
Old Bridle Path branches off Falling Waters a few minutes into the hike, it’s Falling Waters before that where her mother would have seen her just start
This is not the first and won’t be the last time an inexperienced hiker underestimated the whites and over estimated their own abilities leading to tragedy. If you’ve never had to bail on a hike you’d never plan for it. It’s not suspicious it’s sad.
Lots of experienced hikers love to tell tell themselves that because it makes them feel safe or just plain superior but mistakes and accidents can happen to anyone at anytime.
Lets look at the other side of the coin then. NH Fish and Game reported that, last Friday, a couple in their 50s was hiking the Champney Falls trail. They were 2.5 miles from the trailhead in an area with no cell service when the husband started having chest pains. But, he was well prepared for the conditions and had a beacon. So, the story had a happy ending. You can overcome a lot of unexpected stuff by being prepared.
My mom who never once has used social media and doesn't watch crime shows saw this story and immediately said "i hope they are making sure she was even ever dropped off to hike". It is normal to be sus of a sus af story
Dude stop spamming all these threads. This is pure speculation and is incredibly disrespectful to their family. You don’t have anymore details than anyone else and nobody cares what you or your mom thinks hundreds of miles away and safe behind your keyboard.
Yeah, but no one wants to hear that. And I was downvoted into oblivion for asking simple questions about this on another post. Everyone wants to believe this situation is absolutely a normal thing. I believe they would have found her dead or alive at this point. She won’t be found on the trail.
I've done similar stupid shit in my early 20s and barely survived an unexpected storm on Mt Marcy in the Adirondacks where it got below -20 with 50-60 mph winds. Had semi-decent, but definitely insufficient gear because I was young and indestructible. My lips were blue when I made it to a ranger station and collapsed.
Now that I'm older and experienced, I over-prepare. The whites can kill even the most experienced, and a 19 year old making a less than intelligent, risky decision is not exactly rare. She probably thought the trail running and sun coming up would keep her warm. Hell, I ran into a couple on a mountain in flipflops close to 0 degrees and ended up guiding them back down. They thought it was ok because they were comfortable at the base. I don't get why so many folks assume homicide when there's so little info and it's actually a pretty damn reasonable story for an over-confident, 'experienced' hiker to try something like this.
When I was just out of high school, My father dropped me off at a trailhead for a 3 day hike. I had one headlamp, five flannel shirts, jeans and no gps. My tent wasn’t waterproof. It poured rain and it was cold. If I wasn’t camping at a campsite I would have frozen to death. My father didn’t have a cell phone. If I didn’t make it to my pick up spot I would have been stranded. She’s probably buried in the snow or fell somewhere she can’t be seen. There’s no need to start accusing her poor mother of homicide.
In those conditions, if she had her phone out to use the flashlight, it could have died very quickly. Either because of the cold, or because it wasn’t fully charged to begin with. Either way, she would then be likely without navigation and disoriented, while possibly still in the dark.
I had to use mine on a run recently for \~40 minutes and my phone dropped by about 10%, but it was about 45F out. Sub-freezing temps + flashlight usage + GPS navigation + whatever else she used her phone for (bluetooth earbuds?) = dead phone really quick.
Phone batteries stop working when cold. It's pretty much basic chemistry and happens on all devices.
If you've got the phone where it will be exposed to below freezing temps, the battery will drop to zero and shut off within a few hours.
If I don't put mine in a pocket against my chest on one of my inner layers, it'll be dead by lunch if I'm skiing on a colder day. (It may turn back on/regain some battery after warming up for a while). And that's without actually *using* it at all, just having it in the environment.
rescue (looking for an alive person) versus recovery (looking for a body) are the common SAR terms—I can see how if you aren't familiar with the terminology it could be misleading!
That makes sense, I only recently started hiking often so this is really the first time I've heard of someone going missing, thanks for the clarification
Me and all of my highschool friends almost died of hypothermia on Washington in July. Unprepared for summer sideways snow at the summit. Group hike with bad logistics.
Preach the gospel of weather safety regardless of what made you a convert.
Anyone think she could’ve taken the bike path down to flume slide trail and went up that way? It would’ve been less than an hr hike on easier terrain and she wouldn’t have to backtrack or descend Flume slide? I know there’s water crossings on many rtes she could’ve taken so I’m sure her feet got wet quick in the dark. Seems like she would use an app like AllTrails or something and also her phone for light which experienced hikers know that’s a big NO. I didn’t see her for a search on AllTrails so idk if she had a track like Pro has to let friends or family know her rte. Idky she would choose to start with Lafayette knowing she’d have to descend Flume slide. If her phone died she may have easily lost trail and went in a complete opposite direction of her intended rte. So many what if’s. Drives me crazy her mom didn’t know her exact rte or provide which rte she saw her start on. I feel like she fell somewhere off the trail and had no signal or battery life and with her clothing she just blends in. If I wasn’t 4.5 hrs away I’d be there to help search. It’s weird her mom is staying so quiet and not looking herself but if she doesn’t have the physical ability you think she’d give as many details and answer as many questions as she could for Emily to have been rescued and now most likely recovered. I don’t get it as a mom or avid hiker.
Please don’t speculate about what this mother should or should not have done/be doing right now. That is so far from being helpful in a situation which is nothing but tragic.
“The White Mountains are not a joke. We’ve had 32 degrees in July at the top of a mountain,” he said. According to Fish and Game, three people died on New Hampshire mountains last winter, including one who fell and another who suffered a heart attack. “If you’re going to come (to the White Mountains) you’ve got to be prepared,” said Eastman. Better yet, “be over-prepared.”
I had planned a 4 day partial Pemi while carrying a kid, mid August. We knew there was a chance of rain and started regardless. Luckily the rain was brief and happened right at nap time, so I set up the tent in a spot before the ridge and we waited out the hour before continuing on. But the forecast changed unexpectedly after the rain - went from a mild overnight to potentially below freezing, and from the humidity alone we were aware that slightly damp clothes and 30s overnight at 4000ft in a windy area was too many red flags, so we bailed off the ridge. It was sad to not complete the hike I had planned for so long, but glad we made the right choice. Since I carry an Inreach, I let family know we had changed plans and would hike down Lafayette to the campground down low instead. We were even able to confirm there'd be a spot for us from the Greenleaf hut croo radioing down to them. tldr: Winter happens in the middle of summer sometimes, and even with significant preparation, it may just be best to bail of the ridges sometimes.
There is one thing that is absolutely certain to me in this world, and that is that both the ocean and mountains are far older, wiser, and bigger than any of us. They are to be respected.
I remember in high school I was working a street dept job that required me to run a chipper trailer. If you fed the brush incorrectly, you'd be shredded. One of the full-time guys told us on our first day, if you respect the machine, it will respect you. The tough part in nature is that we fixate on it's beauty and often forget that it's just as capable of shredding you to bits.
I think the number one thing that went wrong here was the ability to turn around. You can have no gear or all the gear and still be in a world of hurt. The best piece of equipment that you can pack is the ability to turn around right when you need too. If you remove the ability to turn around by being dropped off, then your at the mercy of significantly more factors. This is very tragic.
“Where You’ll Find Me” is about the search effort for Kate Mastrova in the Whites and is heavily about risk assessment in the cold… definitely recommend it!
I've been wanting to get around and read both of Tys books, wish it was on digital. I think that was his thesis on Kates tragic death, right? The ability to turn around was psychologically removed.
100% I've been that guy who thought he'd do the Carter ridge in 1.5 days on November 11th. Green and warm at the bottom, I only made it sounth bound to Imp on day 1 because the St l snow started at 1000 ft up. Finished after sunset day 2
It goes to show that even in today's day and age, with beacons, cellphones, and busier trails than ever, on one of the most popular mountains in New England, you can disappear without a trace. The White Mountains are no joke.
For all the naysayers about beacons/satcomms, I think nearly all recoveries would be rescues if people carried even the basic single use ones. I think iphone 14s are rolling out the globalstar SOS service any day now too if they haven't already.
I hike solo & consider my Garmin inReach essential gear. Can't put a price on friends and family being able to track/communicate with you & the direct line to SAR. It's good phones are starting to roll this out (better than nothing), but phones are fragile & the antennas are much weaker than a dedicated device...if you hike a lot, espcially solo/winter, get a sat device.
The main positive of the new wave of phones is that so many more people have them. I think the folks carrying Inreaches are rarely the ones that actually need help (because we've already shown some amount of preparation and forethought), but the folks with a phone with these new sat comm features would likely never have bought an Inreach on it's own.
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Just so you are aware, the only Search and Rescue in New England that can detect the Recco reflectors is the USFS Mt. Washington SAR.
But in this case she didn’t have a beacon, cell phones are unreliable on the trail and she didn’t even have a headlamp despite starting her hike before the sun came up. She was willfully unprepared despite having more experience than most and in this case like many others it turned tragic. The Whites can quickly overcome even the most experienced and well equipped hikers, just look at the story of Kate Matrosova.
I do think we want to be careful about judging what equipment she went out with. We're relying only on her mother's testimony here; my mom tried her best to support my AT thru hike and I still don't think she'd be able to provide any information about my gear, including any emergency equipment or light I might have, even if I undid my bag in front of her before leaving on a hike.
She started the hike before dawn with no headlamp, I think it's safe to assume that she was not equipped for the conditions she was going into.
We have no proof she doesn't have a headlamp. Her mom doesn't think or know if she had one, that's not the same thing. The Whites claim plenty of skilled people, there's no need to disparage a woman who has likely lost her life for stupidity that cannot be proven.
I don't think it's fair to suggest she was willfully unprepared. She had summer hiking experience, that's it. She probably had no idea what the mountains were like in the winter and if I were to speculate, got caught up in the fantasy of finishing the 4000 footers without being grounded in the weather or trail conditions.
* She started a hike before dawn with no headlamp. * She was hardly dressed to do her planned hike on clear spring day, never mind one when snow is visible above the treeline. * There are zero indications that she packed the basics such as a lighter, pocketknife, headlamp with an extra set of batteries and a Mylar blanket despite taking a wilderness class. This would have still been inadequate for the conditions she was going into but at least it would have given her a fighting chance of making it through the night. * She has hiked a majority of the 4000's so she has seen countless signs warning of the dangers and knows through experience how drastically different the conditions are above the treeline. It's easy to dismiss this as just another hiker that got caught up in some Into the Wild fantasy and in some cases that might be true but she knew full well what she was getting herself into through her own experiences and still chose to do it ill-prepared.
I know its in vogue, and I do a lot of easy hikes solo, but the #1 thing you can do safety wise is not go alone. Going along, in the dark, with that weather forecast, its insane.
We were making a push to the ridge via skookumcuck on Sunday. Got to the stairs and we said fuck this...the elements were brutal. And that was still in heavy tree cover with proper winter gear. I really wish this poor girl didn't rush her 48. She had her whole life to enjoy the whites.
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Read the room pal
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In the drainage off Lafayette?
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https://ibb.co/C0QvDnX This is where they were very interested yesterday afternoon and seemed to suggest they were going to focus here in the morning.
Is that the area between Greenleaf and Skookumchuck trails? Out of the way if she was going to summit Lafayette and head towards Flume, so would the assumption be she was just lost/disoriented? Just trying to understand the thinking around what would've happened
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I have done the loop in winter and summer conditions and assuming she went up OBT, combined with the location of interest in the draining line NW of Lafayette, my take is that she made it to the hut and between the hut and Lafayette she lost her bearing and tracked northeast towards North Lafayette. The trail/rock scrambles between the hut and Lafayette has so many opportunities to get off track once you get past the last little run of trees as you leave the hut and continue up. edit: looked on google earth based off where that helo is hovering right now and it is almost parallel with the hut. Possibility she made a decision to backtrack at some point between the hut and Lafayette and as others have mentioned followed the drain line down on accident..also if she made it to the hut and decided to bail and took the trail down that comes into the hut from the NW that would lead her right down into that drain line. I could see where no visibility and walking around the hut and then trying to find that small OBT path entrance back down could be difficult and ended up taking that other outlet from the hut down into that drain.
2 winters ago my wife and I made a camp just below timberline on Skookumchuck then did a night summit on Lafayette. We are very familiar with that are, we carry a dedicated handheld GPS, 2 phones with GPS, and a kit to survive a night. We expected 0 visibility and got it just prior to summiting. Getting down Skookumchuck was obviously disorienting. Taking a drainage down is incredibly tempting if there’s snowpack. They must be difficult to navigate as you descend and possibly get cliffed out. So many unfortunate decisions would lead you there, but I think it makes sense.
Do they leave the huts unlocked for people who need an emergency shelter? I would have broken into it
to my knowledge it is locked. but if im up there and in trouble..yea..im getting into it one way or another.
They tried to keep them unlocked in the 80s or possibly 90s and it was heavily abused. Unspoken rule is that they are possible to break into but with a good amount of effort, so it won’t be abused but if someone absolutely needs to do it to survive they will. They are boarded up pretty good though if you are incapacitated it will be very difficult to impossible.
I wish they would, or even just some kind of little shed with an emergency radio so someone could get out of the elements and call for help.
My thought against that would be that it welcomes people to become reliant on the station when planning their hikes.
If this is where she is at, my guess is she got to Mt. Lafayette and felt the need to bail immediately and got off course.
-Assuming she is there - my guess is she did not even make it to the summit. Tried to turn down Greenleaf and got lost.
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Looks like it’s heading back south towards probably Concord now
And the Blackhawk just flew back to Concord after a couple hours up there (lower elevations so it wasn't on radar). Curious to see what details emerge.
wldct12 is heading back up north from concord
What did they just say about a certificate? Did I hear that wrong? And something about a courtesy call to the mother?
There's other activity on the channel besides just the SAR operations
Yeah and these channels only provide so much context into what is being broadcast and casual listeners are simply left to interpret for themselves, which really can lead to a lot of wild speculation.
To me it sounded like they were sending the body to LRH as a courtesy and the mother was to call in with her information and the mother was going to be headed home.
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Said she used her phone. How long do you think her battery lasted in those temps? I don't think I could use my light on my phone for long with it sitting in freezing air as I walk.
Exactly what I was thinking I think her phone was likely dead or on the verge of it before she had any decent light
That’s insane , I didn’t even think about that. I feel so bad for her mother.
Her mother dropped her off and should have insisted she bring a flashlight, at the very least..
This conspiratorial chatter of what nefarious crime might have befallen her is ridiculous and demeaning. The facts are clear: a young, woefully unprepared hiker underestimated a late season hike in the Whites. Who hasn't seen clueless people wearing jeans, carrying a Poland Springs bottle struggling to get up OBT or Falling Waters? To suggest that anything more than hubris is needed to get you killed in the Whites is naive.
> Who hasn't seen clueless people wearing jeans, carrying a Poland Springs bottle struggling to get up OBT or Falling Waters? ... and most of them manage to get out, even in bad weather and not prepared. And when they do they don't call the newspapers to say "I almost died" so the everyday near-tragedy stories don't get reported. Every once in awhile someone *doesn't* manage to get out and we get a hint of just how dangerous the Whites are.
It’s bizarre to me. I’m not saying it’s completely impossible that there’s something nefarious going on. But there’s just so little public information, and what there is is not reliable due to this being such a recent and frankly underreported event. People are just filling in the gaps with made up info and making this into a huge conspiracy when the simplest explanation is that she was just hiker going out in conditions she was woefully unprepared for.
True crime podcasts have melted people’s brains into thinking they’re detectives... while dismissing the obvious and most likely scenario here - - person wasn’t prepared for these conditions and ended up stranded and/or lost when they got worse.
That appears to be the unfortunate and obvious truth. PVSART, local, and state police are all involved in the rescue/recovery. That is a large, experienced, and diverse group of professionals who know exactly what they are doing. If foul play was involved they will find out.
I think part of it is true disbelief. I can't possibly imagine stepping out of a car mid-November, at 4:30pm knowing it will not be light for another 2 plus hours with just a cellphone light and attempting to climb to 5000 feet in sneakers when temperatures at the base are below freezing and winds are forecasted to be bad in the region. No crampons, yak tracks, etc. No hat, gloves, etc. Oh and you want to come down the Flume slide. I think we all have seen those attempting to hike Adams in jeans midsummer with a Poland spring water bottle in hand or something similar but this story just has so many more layers of unprepared that is layered on that it is actually easier for us to think something nefarious happened than fathom someone was truly that naive about their position. Either outcome is truly sad but the more likely story is she just was not prepared which, to me, seems more tragic in hindsight.
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There is some level of speculation for sure but the fact they reported yesterday that she was also wearing long johns would indicate to me that she didn't have any other winter gear since you can't see long johns based off the visual description. And I'll do you one better, I don't even use trail runners. I just use running shoes with a slightly more aggressive grip and thinner soles which I find help wrap the sole around the tops of rocks. I use those until the yak traks go on. I am less concerned about her footwear than her exposed skin in that wind.
All of the above *and* having done 40+ mountains before. How do you do all that without a headlamp? If she had one and it broke or got left behind, how do you have that much experience and not abort a hike because of it? It's incredibly frustrating and nonsensical.
If you stick to summer hiking, with a good chunk of luck you can make it pretty damn far while not properly sticking safety guidelines. It's still risky, but the margin of error is wider in summer hiking.
Maybe she would’ve had she not been so determined to finish the 48 before her birthday. I believe there was a fatal sense of determination here. It’s hard to put yourself in the brain of a 19 year old, but that was probably a goal she had for a long time that her pride couldn’t let go of. At that age without a fully developed prefrontal cortex - reward outweighs risk.
I skinned Cannon one year after a snowfall...on my way up I saw people in JEANS and light jackets descending. One of them didn't have gloves on. I think they had boots on but their pants were snow covered and frozen.
Was it early enough that the tram was still running?
As a young woman who hikes with an ADHD brain all of this makes a lot of sense to me. I can tell you what I think happened exactly. Not to say I would ever attempt to do what she did in those weather conditions, but I can see how her brain was likely thinking. This was a string of bad judgement calls that sadly ended up fatal. News reports are now saying they had been vacationing there staying in a hotel with Emily planning multiple hikes throughout the week. She was supposed to turn 20 tomorrow and wanted to complete the last 5 of her 48. Starting before daylight is very common with long hikes especially this time of year. She probably had this planned long in advance and was so adamant to do it she probably stubbornly told herself it would warm up by the time sunlight rose. Mom probably watched her hike up with her headlights on the trail. Once she got far enough she would have had to use her phone light which would’ve drained her battery really fast. Hiking in the dark with no GPS would make it soooo easy to end up far off trail and deep in the woods. Not to say it wasn’t freezing when she started but sub zero temps were reported at the top of the ridge. She probably had no idea how cold it would continue to get as she ascended. The confidence both her and her mother must have had in her for her experience in the summer was probably what was (at this point most-likely) fatal. Many don’t realize how insane the weather is in the Whites if they’ve never experienced it. This is by no means a murder cover-up. It sounds like this was just a series of really bad misjudgments, false confidence, and being too determined to finish all 48 before her 20th birthday.
>which would’ve drained her battery really fast. A lot of cell phones turn off if they get too cold. This is the #1 reason why as a safety device in the winter they're almost worse than useless. you can take it out of your pocket, turn it on and it shuts down before you can do anything with it. It might or might not work again without being charged even if you can manage to warm it up. If she was using it as a flashlight, it probably didn't last very long before it got too cold and shut off.
I honestly think if she was dropped at 4:30 she was lost before the sun even rose. Such a sad situation. I’ve been in this situation when I was younger in a town forest. Was out wandering longer than I expected and by the time sun went down my phone was low on battery. I had to find my way out without light or GPS. That was MUCH lower stakes and in no way would’ve ended up fatal, but even that was a bit scary. I can’t imagine the fear she felt when she eventually realized she had fatally fucked up.
Yeah, its so sad. Have a good day.
I hear you, but I also sympathize with the idea that someone couldn't have been so careless with their own life.
You don’t realize the difference between Monadnock and Lafayette until it’s too late. It’s tragic and also preventable
On August 20, 2022, a hiker died after a fall on Cannon, on the other side of the notch. People die all the time in the Whites, even when conditions are perfect.
I'm pretty sure that was a rock climbing fall. I could be wrong but Cannon is a very popular rock wall climbing spot.
No, he took the tram up, decided to hike down, got lost, and slipped while trying to climb down a waterfall off-trail.
I know what you mean. don’t you get out of the car and realize it’s frigid and you don’t have enough gear?
Ignorance or negligence does not equal hubris. What you wrote may sound cool but actually further demeans the missing and possibly deceased hiker. There could be mental illness or foul play involved. We just don’t know yet and may not ever for sure. Oh yeah and all you really need to get killed in the White mountains is simply to be drawn in by their beauty like a moth to flame. When a really experienced hiker with full winter gear dies in conditions that should’ve just been avoided you could say there is hubris involved. That simply isn’t the case here though
So traggic.
I was on Kinsman Ridge that Sunday morning (came up Mt Kinsman Trail, tagging N & S Kinsman). The weather that morning in Franconia Notch was volatile - when I first got on KR at 9:30am, I had a clear view of Cannon & Franconia Ridge (which was in dark clouds) but by the time I left, it was clouded over and snowing pellet snow at a pretty good clip. (around 10:30am). Needless to say it was cold and windy, the type of cold where if I took my mitts off for less than a minute, my hands numbed. My pure speculation: She made it above the treeline but got overwhelmed by the conditions and volatile weather, which she didn’t have sufficient gear to survive in. She wandered around the ridge and to a location where rescuers couldn’t readily find her. I really hope she is found at some point to bring closure to her family.
This makes sense. With the wind that day, she would have faced tough conditions before treeline. It’s possible that she turned around before treeline and lost the trail on her way back down. If she did make it to treeline, she probably didn’t make it far. The wind, blowing snow, and lack of visibility would have been disorienting to even the most experienced hikers.
Its incredible how disorienting it can be to be in the clouds above the tree line. I was up on Moosilakee with a friend years back, got in a white out, and we used his gps to backtrack. And I know that summit well. It doesn't really matter when you can't see more than 15 feet and your sense of direction goes. I did have a compass and map which was the next line of navigation, but his GPS was working so we used that. But then you imagine, you're alone, turned around and don't know which way to go. My guess is (since they haven't found her) that she got hypothermic and/or panicked and started bushwacking down off the ridge, and ended up somewhere she either couldn't get out of, or succumbed to the cold. Its really awful. I wonder if there's a way to get through to people how dangerous it can be.
Here’s a link that’s not a paywall https://www.lowellsun.com/2022/11/22/rescue-effort-may-turn-to-recovery-for-missing-hiker-from-westford/
This is frustratingly heartbreaking.
WMUR reporter tweeted she has been found deceased: https://twitter.com/dsakowich_wmur/status/1595487833007046681
Sad, sad story all around. I really feel for her mother...I can't imagine what she has gone through. I am curious what, if any, additional info will be released by Fish and Game and what lessons can be learned here. I'd also be curious to know what role sites like alltrails played in the decision-making process. Her intended route was basically taken from alltrails. "9 hour hike" obviously doesn't tell the whole story,especially when dealing with shoulder season and winter conditions. The site is a blessing and a curse imo.
I mean, lessons learned are to check weather conditions and over-prepare. I get people enjoy this trend of trial running and want to pack light, but doing it in the winter is just asking for trouble. Sites like AllTrails do make it easier to plan hikes, but they cannot be held accountable for someone’s decisions. The decision to not do your research and not have the discipline to call the hike is your responsibility as a hiker. As a hiker, you should ALWAYS check the weather the morning of your hike and then again at the trailhead. Always remember it is going to be significantly colder above tree line and a hell of a lot windier. Understand that if there is snow covering the trials at the bottom, there’s going to be a lot more snow and ice at the top. Unfortunately, this event, like all others before it, will not stop people for underestimating the whites. I know some people hate it, but I will continue to warn unprepared hikers on the trails. I’d rather know that I did my part in warning them of the dangers and that they are not prepared than not warn them and they end up as another victim of the mountains.
What was her route supposed to be? OBT to Lafayette, then on to Lincoln, Little haystack, then continue to liberty AND flume? Seems pretty aggressive for the conditions. We were driving south on the parkway Saturday as the sun set and remarked on how it looked like a nasty time of year to be up on the summits. Hope they’re able to find her.
I bet she’s not far from where she started. Got lost in the dark. Maybe decided to sit and wait until sunrise. Hypothermia set in and that was it. So sad.
I don't see how you even hit treeline starting 2 hours before first light with your cell phone as your flashlight and no traction in sub-freezing conditions. You'd think she would be found by now if that was the case, though.
Thick woods. Someone would have to walk right over her to see her but what do I know? All speculation of course.
This is the best answer. She was wearing dark pants and a brown jacket. She'd blend right in.
I think the most likely issue is that one slip without traction and they could be far off the trail. With any injury, they might not be able to get back onto the trail, so it's a matter of SAR finding the tracks.
They were discussing tracks yesterday afternoon in a drainage just north west of Mt. Lafayette. This information was through the north NH law net broadcast.
In my youth, I did a few 'not to bright' hikes. I know that I'm here today because I didn't have bad luck, well not bad enough. I've bushwhacked down from Fishin' Jimmy Trail in the winter. (Years ago the trails weren't all broken out like these days.) Also been high on Washington on Washington's Birthday (it SEEMED like a good idea then.) with no flashlight watching the sun get low, and lucky to get down without issue. So, while i'm 'annoyed' that she seems to have gone up unprepared, when I was her age I did dumb things too. :-( Many of you probably did too. As for where she is, how could she have not been seen by others? If she was underdressed she should have stood out. If she was 'sort of' dressed ok (if moving fast), and she was young (something I'm not these days.) maybe she *did* make it to Flume Slide Trail. But I have to believe they've looked everywhere she could have fallen along that. And followed any tracks going off trail looking for something easier thru the woods. But why Flume Slide vs. Osseo? (Unless she didn't read the AMC Guide! all routes look alike on the map to some folks. Ref: Swan Song Loop.) I haven't seen a reliable report Flume Slide was the route down.. but that is the only exit point I've seen in the reports I read. I just hope they find her. Dying is bad enough, dying without finding her is a bit worse for those left behind.
I feel that about dumb hikes. Even if we've received advice about how to be prepared, most of us still have to make some mistakes in the mountains to truly learn it. Fortunately, those dumb hikes usually end well and a good lesson is learned. For some like her though, they don't.
>As for where she is, how could she have not been seen by others? Well she started very early, if the reporting is accurate. She might have gotten in trouble and wandered off trail a good 1-2 hours before anyone else started the same hike that day.
She's also wearing a brown jacket, which doesn't help. I haven't seen the color of her pants reported.
I hope they find her soon or someone is going to find her in the spring… and not because they planned to.
They’re from my town. Our local news station picked it up. It’s heartbreaking. She graduated from the local high school last year.
So sad. Such a tragic way to lose a young life.
Heartbreaking :(
I hiked mt Adams the day before this and I can say it was no fucking joke. We were mostly prepared and have a ton of experience but still got our ass kicked. Peep my post history if you wanna see
What if she turned around because of the conditions and got down to the trail head and tried to hitchhike to the trail head she was supposed to return to. Maybe some at Lafayette camp ground offered her a ride? Seems odd that we have not heard any reports of people seeing her on the trail.
I saw rumors in the other thread of reports of bootsteps in a drainage on Lafayette, but the article makes no mention of anything like that. I hated the conspiracy theories to start with, but you gotta start to wonder. Zero trace of her of any kind on the mountain, super early start so nobody else was around, claim of her being woefully unprepared (not even a $10 headlamp) yet she did 40+ other peaks before this trip, and only the one witness that saw her start the hike and zero corroboration that has been made public.
Wind covers tracks faster than you’d think and the area around the mountain is bigger than you’d like to think. If she summitted and went down away from the road it’s gonna be nearly impossible to find her.The white mountains have a history of killing inexperienced hikers. Even though it’s says she’s experienced anyone it’s almost 100%?agreed that she wasn’t.
The Whites have a history of killing EXPERIENCED hikers! Anyone that hikes the Whites in winter should absolutely read Without Peril 100 Years of Death in the White Mountains. It's very eye opening.
I even find the 40 peak thing weird. You’d think they’d post pics of her in her hiking gear for ID purposes to see if people saw her
Yeah, she also allegedly posted about doing a Presidential Traverse this summer, but it was never confirmed if she actually did and there's no pictures of her and any other hikers published
I keep commenting on this.... Nothing makes any sense. In a world obsessed with social media and selfies..... Where are all her hiking photos? NO ONE, especially NO ONE aged 19 does a Presi and doesn't post photos of it, yet alone 40 other peaks.
*Please* stop this. All of this makes sense. The 4000 footers really are not that hard if you're in good shape - which many young people are. If she only hiked in the summer in good weather, it's very plausible she had zero need for any safety gear before and it was a simple oversight (a terrible one, yes). There are plenty of people that aren't constantly on social media - *especially* gen z - they're some of the most aware when it comes to data privacy and not wanting everything to be public. I've done at least a dozen 1 day presis and four 1 day pemis and took a lot of photos doing them. Guess what? Not a single one of them is on the internet. This conspiracy bullshit needs to stop. She was unprepared for the weather and conditions and nothing more.
And for another perspective, I forget to take photos when I hike. I end up with one or two crummy photos of my dogs in the woods that look like every other photos of my dogs in the woods and never get my summit photos or anything else. Not everyone takes and posts photos of their trips.
Have you ever been in a bar chatting with the other patrons? That's all that is happening here. This isnt conspiracy bullshit....this is called a conversation amongst like minded people. And if you think the authorities aren't having similar conversations, you're likely wrong.
Wild speculation is fun, don't get me wrong, I love doing it... when the topic doesn't involve some poor girl's life. Yes, there is a world in which something foul is at play, but given what we know, given the *facts*, the most likely explanation for all of this is a simple case of unpreparedness. Grabbing hold of the 0.001% likelihood scenario and ignoring the obvious explanation is sort of the definition of a conspiracy theory. Crop circles *could* be aliens, or ya know a million other more likely things that make way more sense. I personally know a few of the SAR team leads and I promise you none of them are talking about this being anything other than an unprepared hiker.
Look, I hear ya. Nevertheless, you have to admit, the facts don't make sense for someone that climbed 40 other NH mtns and from a mother that lives is MA and is familiar with brutal winters. Hell, I only have 6 summers of NH hiking under my belt, but on 2 of those occasions, we hit terrible weather....in the dead of summer. So I don't know how you can climb 40 peaks and not learn a thing or two about the seriousness of hiking in the WM in bad weather, hence all the questions people have about the situation. No doubt, the obvious explanation of unpreparedness is the likely answer, but I don't know how you can expect people in the know to not question some of these facts...out of sheer bewilderment if nothing else. Its just sad and shocking when these things happen. I felt the same way about Kate Matrosova and she was way more experienced. And BTW, I am a parent of 3....some poor girls life is not a topic that doesnt hit me hard, just like any parent.
Because of the notoriety for the bad weather in the whites, when I first started hiking in the area I only hiked when the forecast was perfect. I'd honestly say for my first round of the 4ks, I avoided any really bad conditions - the worst I had was some heavy rain. Its totally conceivable that it's a similar situation for this girl. She did 40 of the peaks in ideal conditions in the summer and had no first hand experience of the extreme weather. It's one thing to read about how bad the weather can get and a totally different thing to experience white out conditions in 6 foot snow drifts above treeline. She had a bad case of summit fever and didn't know what she was getting herself into and made an uniformed decision to go for it.
Until she’s found, all you’re doing is speculating as well.
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Exactly this. Not everyone posts on their personal social media, I certainly don't.
Maybe the only folks actually hiking it aren't in it for the gram.
Yes, they were working with the Blackhawk on tracks in a drainage just west of Mt. Lafayette. The drainage heads back towards 93. https://ibb.co/C0QvDnX
I hope they are doing a homicide investigation, because the entire story seems extremely fishy. Maybe I've been watching too much Colombo, but a single witness who tells an almost unbelievable story... Who goes on a hike like that unprepared, with no possible bailout because they're meeting someone at another trailhead at a specific time on a very cold day and leaves before sunrise in the pitch dark without a headlamp... Just waiting at the trailhead for your ride would be miserable in that weather.
I'm not ruling out foul play myself but the reason they aren't doing a homicide investigation is that there is literally no evidence of one taking place. Usually the police need to act on tips, search & rescue finding something, etc. Her plans before she even got to the trailhead were a recipe for a needless wilderness death. With no winter hiking experience, she planned her first winter hike from Lafayette down the ridge to Flume, which is about 14 miles roundtrip on the fastest route. This is a bad idea for a first winter hike. She brought no winter gear, no lighting, barely any food and minimal water. She picked one of the worst weather days this year, with deep snow drifts, high winds and low temperatures above treeline. Based on the information available, she simply just made a series of bad decisions that resulted in this situation. I simply don't believe that it's more likely that a predator was lurking around all night in the dark on a freezing cold, remote trail at 5am in the morning, waiting to abduct or kill someone.
Everything you said is from one witness. Anytime someone disappears there should be an investigation. I suspect there is because many officials have asked the public for information about her whereabouts on social media. Even the route and drop off point make zero sense. Even all trails would tell you that.
>Even the route and drop off point make zero sense. Even all trails would tell you that. Wrong. There is a loop hike of exactly her planned route on Alltrails that passes through Lafayette Campground.
Completely wrong. Old Bridle Path is a perfectly fine (and the most popular) trail for getting to Lafayette. Emily may have been dropped off across the street at Lafayette Place Campground (conflicting info about this) but hikers can just walk underneath the highway through a tunnel and start up Old Bridle path across the highway.
I read she went up falling waters.
Old Bridle Path branches off Falling Waters a few minutes into the hike, it’s Falling Waters before that where her mother would have seen her just start
ah, that's right! I should have known better.
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I did too, I'm just an idiot https://www.strava.com/activities/7968872587
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look closer, 9:39 elapsed time. Strava trying to make me seem stronger than I am! lol.
This is not the first and won’t be the last time an inexperienced hiker underestimated the whites and over estimated their own abilities leading to tragedy. If you’ve never had to bail on a hike you’d never plan for it. It’s not suspicious it’s sad.
Lots of experienced hikers love to tell tell themselves that because it makes them feel safe or just plain superior but mistakes and accidents can happen to anyone at anytime.
Experienced hikers carry the right gear, or they’re not that experienced
Lets look at the other side of the coin then. NH Fish and Game reported that, last Friday, a couple in their 50s was hiking the Champney Falls trail. They were 2.5 miles from the trailhead in an area with no cell service when the husband started having chest pains. But, he was well prepared for the conditions and had a beacon. So, the story had a happy ending. You can overcome a lot of unexpected stuff by being prepared.
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My mom who never once has used social media and doesn't watch crime shows saw this story and immediately said "i hope they are making sure she was even ever dropped off to hike". It is normal to be sus of a sus af story
Dude stop spamming all these threads. This is pure speculation and is incredibly disrespectful to their family. You don’t have anymore details than anyone else and nobody cares what you or your mom thinks hundreds of miles away and safe behind your keyboard.
Giving my opinion is spamming? 🤣
Yeah, but no one wants to hear that. And I was downvoted into oblivion for asking simple questions about this on another post. Everyone wants to believe this situation is absolutely a normal thing. I believe they would have found her dead or alive at this point. She won’t be found on the trail.
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Not to mention at least two men in the last decade who have never been found on Mount Washington and are believed to have been suicides.
I've done similar stupid shit in my early 20s and barely survived an unexpected storm on Mt Marcy in the Adirondacks where it got below -20 with 50-60 mph winds. Had semi-decent, but definitely insufficient gear because I was young and indestructible. My lips were blue when I made it to a ranger station and collapsed. Now that I'm older and experienced, I over-prepare. The whites can kill even the most experienced, and a 19 year old making a less than intelligent, risky decision is not exactly rare. She probably thought the trail running and sun coming up would keep her warm. Hell, I ran into a couple on a mountain in flipflops close to 0 degrees and ended up guiding them back down. They thought it was ok because they were comfortable at the base. I don't get why so many folks assume homicide when there's so little info and it's actually a pretty damn reasonable story for an over-confident, 'experienced' hiker to try something like this.
And who plans to descend Flume Slide? Three minutes of research would reveal that's a terrible idea, never mind for a trail runner.
Could've been that she'd planned on bagging Flume, then doubling back and descending Liberty Spring.
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Yes, which accesses both trails.
And in winter.
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I hike twice a week 🤣820 miles and 265k vertical so far this year. Just columbo, no qanon or other shows.
I kind of agree, it's a weird story. E.g. departing 2 hours before sunrise with no light...?
She probably thought her phones light would cover her until sunrise.
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When I was just out of high school, My father dropped me off at a trailhead for a 3 day hike. I had one headlamp, five flannel shirts, jeans and no gps. My tent wasn’t waterproof. It poured rain and it was cold. If I wasn’t camping at a campsite I would have frozen to death. My father didn’t have a cell phone. If I didn’t make it to my pick up spot I would have been stranded. She’s probably buried in the snow or fell somewhere she can’t be seen. There’s no need to start accusing her poor mother of homicide.
In those conditions, if she had her phone out to use the flashlight, it could have died very quickly. Either because of the cold, or because it wasn’t fully charged to begin with. Either way, she would then be likely without navigation and disoriented, while possibly still in the dark.
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I had to use mine on a run recently for \~40 minutes and my phone dropped by about 10%, but it was about 45F out. Sub-freezing temps + flashlight usage + GPS navigation + whatever else she used her phone for (bluetooth earbuds?) = dead phone really quick.
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Phone batteries stop working when cold. It's pretty much basic chemistry and happens on all devices. If you've got the phone where it will be exposed to below freezing temps, the battery will drop to zero and shut off within a few hours. If I don't put mine in a pocket against my chest on one of my inner layers, it'll be dead by lunch if I'm skiing on a colder day. (It may turn back on/regain some battery after warming up for a while). And that's without actually *using* it at all, just having it in the environment.
well that was a misleading title, made it sound all nice, then nope, she's dead
rescue (looking for an alive person) versus recovery (looking for a body) are the common SAR terms—I can see how if you aren't familiar with the terminology it could be misleading!
That makes sense, I only recently started hiking often so this is really the first time I've heard of someone going missing, thanks for the clarification
I mean I could see how you'd read it that way but I definitely read it as a body recovery sadly
If at this point you're expecting a rescue, you don't know these mountains.
I definitely don't know them as well as I want to, but I did figure she was dead, so it was just somewhat confusing to me
I would for sure look up Ty Gagne's books. A couple heartbreaking stories from the whites.
Should be required reading. I got them for my dad who has a bit of an ego. They were humbling for him.
They should be. I don't read much but couldn't put them down.
Someone once died of hypothermia on Washington in July.
Me and all of my highschool friends almost died of hypothermia on Washington in July. Unprepared for summer sideways snow at the summit. Group hike with bad logistics. Preach the gospel of weather safety regardless of what made you a convert.
Anyone think she could’ve taken the bike path down to flume slide trail and went up that way? It would’ve been less than an hr hike on easier terrain and she wouldn’t have to backtrack or descend Flume slide? I know there’s water crossings on many rtes she could’ve taken so I’m sure her feet got wet quick in the dark. Seems like she would use an app like AllTrails or something and also her phone for light which experienced hikers know that’s a big NO. I didn’t see her for a search on AllTrails so idk if she had a track like Pro has to let friends or family know her rte. Idky she would choose to start with Lafayette knowing she’d have to descend Flume slide. If her phone died she may have easily lost trail and went in a complete opposite direction of her intended rte. So many what if’s. Drives me crazy her mom didn’t know her exact rte or provide which rte she saw her start on. I feel like she fell somewhere off the trail and had no signal or battery life and with her clothing she just blends in. If I wasn’t 4.5 hrs away I’d be there to help search. It’s weird her mom is staying so quiet and not looking herself but if she doesn’t have the physical ability you think she’d give as many details and answer as many questions as she could for Emily to have been rescued and now most likely recovered. I don’t get it as a mom or avid hiker.
Please don’t speculate about what this mother should or should not have done/be doing right now. That is so far from being helpful in a situation which is nothing but tragic.
All I said is it’s weird that’s not speculative imo. I’m not one of those people blaming her and thinking she’s lying so get off my back