Events:

On Sunday March 14th, at approximately 5:15pm, a hiker took a long sliding fall while descending a steep section of the Lion Head Winter Route. The group of three were wearing lightweight hiking boots with microspikes and carried ice axes. A local guide and paramedic/ER nurse was descending with clients, using a handline placed in steep sections to increase security. The guide witnessed the movements of the team of three and noted that they were attempting to glissade in some places and scooting down on their butts in others. Shortly before the long fall, one of the 3 in the party with the injury, slid some distance, losing their ice axe in the process, which the guide returned to them. Above the rock step, another of the party slid the length of that steep section, struck his head on a tree, was knocked unconscious and sustained a 6″ laceration to the forehead, coming to rest in the patch of trees in the fall line below. The guide then assisted his clients to safety, treated the patient and short roped the injured hiker to the Fire Road. He accompanied the patient and the party to Pinkham, arriving at 9:30pm by headlamp.

Analysis:

The team of three was using the wrong equipment for a trip above treeline. Strap crampons offer much better security.  Many brands of them work reasonably well, even when attached to inappropriately soft and uninsulated boots. Microspikes are great for low angled trails under 15-20 degrees in steepness but the rubber straps stretch and come loose on steeper terrain. Additionally, the short points on the bottom of microspike type devices do not penetrate snow to grip the firm surface beneath. Long sliding falls kill more people in the Presidential range than hypothermia or avalanches. Invest in stiff soled mountaineering boots and crampons. Proper ice axe use requires training.