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Hiking Mount Washington, February 26, 1994
In 1994 I was a young 46 and a member of SWC. My friends Bob McCormick, Terry Friello and I (Jim Contois) had hiked Mount Washington more than a few times in the winter. The date of February 26, 1994 was the last time I hiked in the winter due to the cold that day, life circumstances and my aging knees. The three of us had decided years before, that waiting to see the day's forecast published at Pinkham Notch was a waste of time and we needed to be on the trail very early. We left Pinkham Notch at approximately 6 am. The day started off great but ended sadly. The temperature that day was forecasted for 20 deg F. The hiking was hard with deep snow requiring snowshoes. We climbed Lion's Head Trail which was exciting with the steepness of the trail, the views and the fresh air. As we approached the summit the wind picked up and the temperature unexpectedly dropped. When we were on the summit the wind speed was 69 MPH and the temperature was -11 which calculated to a -70 deg F temperature. Even though we were prepared with mountaineering style clothing I could feel the cold seeping through my many layers. In photos from that day (bravely taken by Terry and Bob without gloves) the pictures showed us with beards and eyebrows frozen with long icicles. It was cold. One photo showed me hiding from the wind behind a parked snow machine under the museum overhang. After a short time on the summit we wisely headed for the Lion's Head tree line and freedom from the wind. When we got down to Pinkham's Notch, we learned that a stone's throw from where we were on Lion's head trail, two Ice Climbers had frozen to death just above the Huntington Ravine. Monroe Couper and Erik Lattey died from freezing. We later found out they were friends in New Jersey, The forecasted weather was favorable for their climb at the Huntington Ravine: Highs in the teens, winds on the summit increasing to 40 to 60 mph. They wouldn't be going to the summit, so it looked good for them. The weather forecast, however, had been wrong; with unexpectedly bad weather. wind averaged 90 mph between nine and eleven pm gusting to 108 with temperatures at midnight of -24 deg F. They froze to death and due to weather conditions their bodies could not be recovered until Tuesday, 3 days later. The news of their deaths was a tragic ending for the Ice Climbing and Hiking Communities.
The full story of their fatal climb can be read in: Fatal Attraction, PARTS 1 AND 2, by Nicholas Howe, Mt. Washington, NH from the February 1995 "Yankee
