Missing Climber in the White Mountains NH

[geojed]

The first article says her body was found on NW face and the map incorrectly has the dot for the location her body was found on the NE face. The route they have highlighted jives with the route/scenario madmattd described.

[dan0rama]

I have hiked that loop in the dead of winter and was decked out in goretex from head to toe and with crampons. The story is indeed very confusing. Any adult would have noticed that she wasn't wearing enough clothes to even hang out in Conway. And they are from MA so not oblivious to what winter is like.

This story reminds of another woman who perished in ~2014 while attempting a solo presidential traverse in the winter after being dropped off by her husband at a TH. That was very tragic too.

[cedica]

This story reminds of another woman who perished in ~2014 while attempting a solo presidential traverse in the winter after being dropped off by her husband at a TH. That was very tragic too.

Ekaterina Matrosova, yes. There were more elements to that story though, like -100F wind chills and flailing SPOT tracking.

[markf]

The woman who died attempting the Presidential Traverse in 2015 (Kate Matrosova) was actually very well prepared and a very experienced mountaineer. Unfortunately the conditions were far harsher than anticipated. Among other issues, the temperatures were too cold for her SPOT to operate properly, and her repeated triggering of the device combined with erroneous location messages (due to the terrain, normal errors in measurements, and the device being too cold to operate properly) made things difficult for the searchers. I think this was also before locator beacons had any kind of messaging capability, which would have compounded the problem. Some interesting takeaways in this article: http://www.catskillmountaineer.com/revi ... ingKM.html

[nsaladin]

I think this was also before locator beacons had any kind of messaging capability.

Delorme Inreach came out in 2013. The SPOT however has lagged behind in its ability to free-form text and only had capability to do preset messages.

[timisimaginary]

I've been trying to figure out what happened here as well and is just very unfortunate. It could just be a bad day in the mountains and a confluence of events that just went south.
I was in the northern Adirondacks that week and can attest to the fact the weather that weekend into Monday was harsh. Bad weather, very cold conditions, fatigue all can weigh on distort judgement higher up even to the best of us.

Many sources out there have conflicting information;

This below source says "she missed a turn" also, that "She made it to all three summits she wanted and unfortunately on the descent she missed the turn which is hard to find on a windy day or just in general"
https://nybreaking.com/emily-sotelo-upd ... ail-found/

This site says she only made it up Lafayette and frankly the author of the article jumps to conclusions and is pretty distastefully critical:
https://www.concordmonitor.com/hiker-wh ... t-48938126

With the greatest respect for her and sympathy for her family, what doesn't make sense for me is that most sources mention that her and her Mom were staying nearby for a several days and that she was dropped off at the trailhead before sunrise in clothes/gear
that would generally be considered too light for being out in winter conditions...but wouldn't someone realize that they were underprepared within two minutes after stepping outside the car in those conditions at that hour and that they might need more clothes, warmer jacket,
socks, boots, etc. and then opt to turn around or go back get another layer/boots, etc. and come back? Most sources mention she was fit, cross country runner, experienced in NH 4000'er hiking almost finishing them (albeit in summer conditions) and was a smart, bright girl at a good school, so something doesn't add up.

May Emily rest in peace and her family and friends find closure from this tragedy.

it's impossible to reconcile the routes described in those two articles. one of them has to be way off.
i did the Haystack-Lincoln-Lafayette route a couple years ago (in clear summer conditions) as described in the first article, CCW, and i'd say that's the most popular loop in that area. you come down off Lafayette to the west and hit the Greenleaf Hut before descending the rest of the way. in clear conditions you can see the ridge route that continues to the north, but it's easy to see how someone might mistakenly take that trail instead of the trail west down to the Greenleaf, particularly in bad conditions. even in good conditions people make that mistake, and then often times compound the mistake by trying to shortcut across to the correct trail instead of reascending Lafayette to find the Greenleaf trail. that's how a lot of people get lost in that area, and based on where she was reported found (at the Lafayatte Brook headwaters) it's right in the area someone might end up by doing that.

the initial reports (and 2nd article) mention Lincoln and Flume, and that makes a lot less sense to me. it's a much longer loop that involves nearly 5 miles of above treeline ridge hiking. and the route described in the 2nd article says she went CW which involves going up the Bridle/Greenleaf trail to Lafayette and then continuing south. it's still possible in bad enough weather she got turned around enough to head north instead of south, but seems less likely than the scenario above. also, i haven't done the trail up Flume, but she would be coming down that trail, and when i looked into the possibility of doing it a couple years ago, that trail was described as pretty tough to downclimb, a bit scrambly and treacherous when wet or icy, so a CCW route that ascends on the Flume trail would have made more sense.

Hard to understand how she could have been reported on two such different routes. i don't know if they have a GPS track of the route she actually traveled. if not, we may never know for sure which is correct.

[timisimaginary]

The woman who died attempting the Presidential Traverse in 2015 (Kate Matrosova) was actually very well prepared and a very experienced mountaineer. Unfortunately the conditions were far harsher than anticipated. Among other issues, the temperatures were too cold for her SPOT to operate properly, and her repeated triggering of the device combined with erroneous location messages (due to the terrain, normal errors in measurements, and the device being too cold to operate properly) made things difficult for the searchers. I think this was also before locator beacons had any kind of messaging capability, which would have compounded the problem. Some interesting takeaways in this article: http://www.catskillmountaineer.com/revi ... ingKM.html

there's also a book, https://www.amazon.com/Where-Youll-Find ... ref=sr_1_1
i haven't read it but it's on my list.
she had summited many peaks including Rainier and Denali, and i believe the Presidential Traverse was being done as part of her Everest training.

[climbingcue]

The woman who died attempting the Presidential Traverse in 2015 (Kate Matrosova) was actually very well prepared and a very experienced mountaineer. Unfortunately the conditions were far harsher than anticipated. Among other issues, the temperatures were too cold for her SPOT to operate properly, and her repeated triggering of the device combined with erroneous location messages (due to the terrain, normal errors in measurements, and the device being too cold to operate properly) made things difficult for the searchers. I think this was also before locator beacons had any kind of messaging capability, which would have compounded the problem. Some interesting takeaways in this article: http://www.catskillmountaineer.com/revi ... ingKM.html

Thank you for the link, I had not heard about her story before.

[dan0rama]

I find that tons of guided expeditions to big mountains only make you very experienced in being guided by others. It might teach you tons of techniques that stack up against those of world class mountaineers, but it does not prepare you for solo expeditions. There's something inherently more challenging about being on your own, having to rely solely on your decision-making and risk management. You will never learn that when you always have someone next to you to validate your every step.

I have been on guided expeditions to high-altitude peaks and yet solo winters climbs of mt elbert still somehow feel way more challenging.

[onebyone]

This story reminds of another woman who perished in ~2014 while attempting a solo presidential traverse in the winter after being dropped off by her husband at a TH. That was very tragic too.

Ekaterina Matrosova, yes. There were more elements to that story though, like -100F wind chills and flailing SPOT tracking.

Also, Mastrova’s route was far more ambitious. And I think she got caught in the middle of the route between peaks, etc.

The reports are all over the place for this one. Everything from she did the whole travers and missed the turn down to greenleaf to climbing only Lafayette and then missing the turn to not having summited anything.

I think the clothing part is a little blown out of proportion since I think she basically going to try to quasi trail run it or speed hike it. Of course, you gotta be really smart and make no mistakes. And the weather reported that day should have prevented her from succeeding on the whole route.

Terrible story. Lots of people calling her an idiot (not here) with is also kinda not cool.

[jrbren_vt]

The nybreaking article just shows the popular Lincoln/Lafayette loop. That in itself is a good day out, as previously stated, ~3800' vertical and 9 miles RT loop, I have done that loop more times then I could count. Other accounts I have read (White Mountain FB group and Boston globe, and concord monitor supplied by NYker) state that she planned on climbing Flume as well. That would be south of Mt Liberty on the ridge on the map that geojed highlighted. Which implies that she was planning on 4 4Kers: Lincoln, LaFayette, Liberty and Flume. That is beyond my ambition even in good conditions, although many seasoned hikers do that as a long day hike. I have done Liberty and Flume together as a day hike separate from LaFayette and Lincoln. The easiest way to do Liberty and Flume together is to ascend the relatively easy Liberty springs trail and hike over Liberty to Flume, then backtrack over Liberty and return down Liberty springs.(14er analogy would be the main route for Redcloud and Sunshine). I have done these in winter but I cherry picked my day looking at the forecasts in advance. Another option would be to descend the flume trail back to Franconia notch, south of Flume's summit, which is very steep (class 3 in spots), and is discouraged in the guide books as there are several steep wet slabs. I have done this trail going up in summer. Another option still would be to continue south on the ridge to Lincoln woods if you didn't have to return to your starting point. Since she was being dropped off and picked up this could have been her plan? I haven't seen anything on the level of detail of what her plans were.

I don't find it surprising at all that someone not familiar with winter in the whites could get dropped off & start up the trail in relatively benign (if not pleasant) conditions down low thinking minimal winter clothing is needed, only to encounter hideous weather conditions above treeline. One of the things I am most wary of in winter is when you go above treeline, making sure you know how to find the trail as it enters the woods on descent. I don't know what her map and compass or gps navigation skills were. You don't really need any of those to hike the NH 4000ers in summer (non snow seasons). Just follow trail and be able to follow the map well enough to know what trails to take. Winter is a different animal as the snow covers the trails above treeline. If it's windy even your own footprints get blown over fast. The cairns only help if you haven't lost the trail yet. I remember the first time I was on Mt. Washington (sunny day) thinking how silly it was to have so many cairns so close together. Then some time later I was up there on a day where the mountain was socked in. Then it made prefect sense.

Very sad story, my condolences to her and her family.

[Istoodupthere]

Out west is obviously a different animal than hiking in the east due to the elevation. However, finding good days to hike in the east, particularly the northeast, aren’t as common as in the west. In the colder months out west it is often windy. In the colder months in the east it is almost always windy. There are plenty of sunny days out west. In the east, sunny days are very rare in the colder months. Others have brought up Mt. Washington, which is also in the White’s. I’ve summited Washington a few times in the warmer months. I decided to do it in the winter for the first time last December. It was about as good of a day as you could get for Washington. 30 mph winds above treeline and a few breaks in the clouds. Summiting was no issue. As soon as I was heading down, the thicker clouds rolled in for good. Even though going up it was obvious where to go, going down I made a wrong turn. I quickly realized my mistake after a couple minutes, but I can totally understand how people can get disoriented in the White’s. I left with a greater appreciation of those mountains.