New Hampshire, Mt. Jefferson. On 11 August at 1300 a sudden and violent thunder storm struck Mt. Jefferson and the surrounding area. Numerous hikers were in the area at the time; some thirty sought refuge at the Edmonds Col Emergency Shelter. The lightning and rain lasted for about one hour and forty-five minutes but strong winds estimated at between forty and fifty-five miles an hour continued with a rapidly dropping temperature. Most of the hikers at this point sought shelter below the tree-line or at one of the AMC huts. A group of ten from Camp Killooleet, Hancock, Vermont, was just preparing to go down when another camp group straggled into the emergency shelter. This group of nine campers and two counselors was wearing only T-shirts and shorts (with two or three sweatshirts among the whole group). They had evidently been on top of Jefferson when the storm hit and according to their leader had a great deal of difficulty finding the trail down to the shelter. All were soaking wet and suffering from exposure to some degree. One of the smaller boys entered the shelter and collapsed. He had a pulse of about 45 and his shivering reflex was no longer functioning, which indicated a critical degree of exposure. The leaders of the Killooleet group immediately stripped him of his wet clothing and put him in a warm down jacket and into a sleeping bag with one of their group. When he regained full consciousness he was given hot liquids. When the immediate danger of his expiring, then and there, subsided, attention was turned to the rest of the other group, who were rapidly dried and clothed in the Killooleet group’s dry clothes. Since going down off the ridge was out of the question for the other group at this time, the Killooleet group shared their food and sleeping bags and spent a very cold and windy night at the Edmonds Col Shelter with them. Both groups left the next morning as soon as visibility permitted, the involved group down the Six Husbands Trail to the Great Gulf Shelters where their camp was located, and the Killooleet group down Randolph Path as originally planned.

Source: Jackie Goss and Larry Wood, leaders of the Killooleet group.

Analysis: Jackie Goss—This situation again points up the often ignored dangers of the easily accessible White Mountains. Poor leadership judgment and precautions on the part of the involved Camp group were directly responsible for at least one very narrowly averted fatality. The group had no protective clothing or rain gear and chose to disregard the well-posted safety rules and precautions that pertain to these mountains. If the Killooleet group had not been there to take over the situation with the proper equipment and knowledge, “just a day hike” would have been another statistic in the list of needless accidents and fatalities that have occurred in these mountains.