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Marjorie LaPan Drake Rescue on Hal’s Slide On January 8, 2005, a group of friends met to hike the Wildcat Ridge. Although this trip was not an official Appalachian Mountain Club hike, three of the participants—Mike Woesnner, Doug Hunt, and I—were AMC trip leaders. Others on the hike were Joe Courcy, Jean Williamson, and Bill Bartsch. We spotted cars at Wildcat Ski area and hiked in bare boots up the Nineteen-Mile Brook Trail to the Wildcat Ridge Trail. We met a group of hikers from Maine who were also planning to hike the ridge. Although the trail was very icy, Doug noticed some of them wearing only Microspikes instead of crampons and cautioned them about a section of trail on the ridge that has a steep slide. That section became known by many as “Hal’s Slide” after a fall in 1998 which left a hiker significantly injured. As we approached Hal’s Slide we heard someone yell, followed by a lot of commotion. Word quickly traveled down the trail that someone had fallen on the slide. Shortly thereafter, two women from the Maine group came back down the trail to get help at the Carter Notch Hut. They told us that a man from their group had fallen with his dog, and that he had yelled to them that he was injured and couldn’t climb back up. We quickly realized our plans had changed. Thinking first of the safety of our own group, we all agreed that Joe and Jean should hike back to the parking lot, while the rest of us would bushwhack to the injured hiker. There was a tremendous amount of undergrowth, making travel extremely slow and difficult. By the time we reached Carl N., the fallen hiker, a group from New York who’d been hiking ahead of the Maine group had climbed down from the opposite side of the slide and were attending to his injuries. Among that group were a surgeon, an anesthesiologist, and a physical therapist. Carl was conscious, alert, and able to explain where he was hurt. The New York group had applied a splint to Carl’s leg, put coats and a hat on him, and was giving him something hot to drink. When my group arrived , we all noticed right away that Carl was sitting directly on the snow. One of the first things we are trained to do when coming upon an accident scene—regardless of the time of year, but especially in winter—is to get something between the injured party and the ground. We got our ground pads under him and helped to get him into a bivy sack. Shortly thereafter, 140 pe a k e x pe r i e n ces the hut master from Carter Notch Hut arrived with a litter. It took several hours to carry the litter through the thick brush back to the trail. Once on the trail, we were able to slide the litter most of the way back to the trailhead, so the New York group hiked to the hut, where they planned to spend the night. This left the hut master, my group, and one man that had been hiking with Carl to finish the carry. Eventually we were also joined by two workers from Pinkham Notch, who had responded to assist with the carry. There are some places where the trail is very close to a bank that drops sharply to the river. At these places, the hut master would tend the front of the litter and I would tend the back, while the rest of the group climbed over the bank to guide the litter across. We arrived at the trailhead at 6:00 p.m. to a waiting ambulance and hot coffee. Carl was transported to the hospital, where he was treated for multiple leg fractures. After the accident, there was much speculation among the hiking community regarding the details of Carl’s fall. Many people blamed the dog, but I had spent some time talking with Carl—both at the scene and during the carry. According to him, the fall was a result of a crampon getting snagged in the snow and ice, causing him to loose his footing and stumble. Prior to crossing the slide, Carl had put his dog on the leash. As a result, he pulled the dog down with him when he fell. Fortunately, the dog was not hurt in the fall. Carl was...

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