PINKHAM NOTCH, N.H. — A Massachusetts man who solo hiked up Mount Washington for a day trip on Monday, died during the descent that night, Colleen Mainville, White Mountain National Forest spokeswoman, said on Tuesday.
Patrick Scott Powers, 46, of Mansfield, slipped and fell 800 feet down snow- and ice-covered slopes into Tuckerman’s Ravine, she said.
He died of injuries from the fall, Mainville said.
On Monday morning, Powers left the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Pinkham Notch Visitor Center for a day trip alone up Mount Washington, she said.
Summit temperatures were around 9 degrees all day and visibility was low, with light snow and winds between 40 to 50 mph.
After reaching the 6,288-foot summit, Powers began descending, then slipped and fell into the ravine between 7 and 8 p.m., Mainville said.
She said the Forest Service was notified at 8 p.m. and responded along with many volunteer rescue groups, including AMC, Mountain Rescue Service, the Harvard Mountaineering Club and students from Stonehearth Open Learning Opportunities, a wilderness medicine school in Conway.
They worked through the night, returning at 2:30 a.m. Tuesday to Pinkham Notch, she said.
tkarkos@sunjournal.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
