At approximately 11:50 a.m. on Saturday, February 17, 22-year-old Cole Matthes of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, was hiking in the Ammonusuc Ravine on Mount Washington when he fell and became injured.
After the fall, Matthes called 911 and requested help. Due to poor reception, very little information could be obtained other than he had an injury and needed help. This call was sent to a Conservation Officer along with the GPS coordinates of Matthes’s location. The coordinates showed Matthes well off trail in a drainage ravine west of Westside Trail and north of Crawford Path at approximately 4,500 feet in elevation.
With little information to go on, calls were made to Conservation Officers on the Advanced Search and Rescue Team, Androscoggin Valley Search and Rescue Team, and Mountain Rescue Service to start a response.
Calls were then made to the Mount Washington Auto Road and the Cog Railway to make preliminary plans about the best option for getting rescuers up the mountain. It was decided that due to the location, the Cog Railway would be best. The Cog Railway was willing to start a special train, mount a snow blower on the front, and bring rescue crews up to the crossing of the Westside Trail. This offer would save the rescue teams many miles of strenuous hiking, and the offer was gladly accepted.
As rescue crews were responding to the Cog Railway, it was determined that two trains would be utilized; an early team would go up and clear the path and get started to the GPS location, while the second rescue crew would get relayed up afterward.
After the first crew had set off on foot from the train on the Westside Trail, another call came in from Matthes. The call was transferred from Matthes via 911 to the Conservation Officer coordinating the rescue effort. Again, Matthes could not be heard. A while later, Matthes called again, and the reception was barely clear enough to understand that he was no longer at the same location but had made his way to the Lakes in the Clouds Hut and was below the building in the emergency shelter. It was also confirmed that he still needed help.
A radio call was made to the initial rescue team to make their way to the hut instead of going off the trail toward the original coordinates. A short while later, the second train with the second group of rescuers was dropped off and started across the Westside Trail. Conditions on Mt. Washington as this first team started across were sustained winds at 90+ mph, a wind chill of -52°F, and an ambient temperature of -9°F. These conditions do not allow for exposed skin and require proper gear and experience to survive.
The first group of rescuers were able to meet with Matthes at the Lakes emergency shelter at 6:17 p.m. The rescue crew relayed that Matthes was not injured but suffering from hypothermia and was wearing many layers of frozen clothes, including frozen hiking shoes. Over time, the second wave of rescuers arrived at the emergency shelter, and it took over three hours to slowly warm Matthes.
Matthes had to be stripped of his wet, frozen clothes and placed in extra gear that rescuers had brought. His boots were thawed out to a point that his frostbitten feet could go back in them with dry wool socks that rescuers provided. After being fed and filled with warm liquids, Matthes was brought down the Ammonusuc Ravine Trail with assistance, leaving the hut at 9:45 p.m.
The rescue crew arrived at the Cog Railway base station at approximately 10:50 p.m. Twin Mountain Ambulance was at the Base Station and initially treated Matthes for hypothermia and frostbite. After multiple recommendations that he go to the hospital, Matthes refused treatment and “signed off” that he did not want to be treated. Matthes was released from the ambulance and brought to his vehicle at 11:38 p.m.
Matthes made numerous mistakes regarding the hike that he planned in the White Mountains. He did not have proper gear, equipment, or weather planning and did not make proper critical decisions to keep himself out of harm’s way and move in the right direction on a dangerous mountain range. Matthes saw other groups turn around and say, “The weather isn’t worth it.” But he decided to keep going.
Matthes called for a rescue after making these poor choices and putting himself in a situation that placed 11 other lives in danger to save his. Even though the rescuers complete these heroic tasks with humility and passion, there is still never-ending concern as to why inexperienced solo hikers continue to push on.
If it was not for the willingness and timeliness of the Cog Railway, the rescuers, and others, Matthes would have undoubtedly died on the mountain.
The list of people who have died on the Presidential Range will stay at 173 for now, thanks to the rescue effort that saved Cole Matthes’s life.
