http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_6025350

whistle, duct tape came in handy.

have to believe he was off the trail(s) as that's a pretty popular area to be in, especially on a holiday weekend. and as the summit is all rock, it would be easy to get off the trail from the beginning.

and no one saw a fire?

When I first read the topic, I thought it was Ziggy!! Wouldn't it be ironic...

Glad that he's ok. There was an interesting line in the story that I've found to be true also:

"I'm told (that) once you get up to the summit and you start heading back down, it's very easy to become disoriented and actually get off the trail,"

I've had kids with me that would have wandered back down on the wrong side of a mountain without some guidance. When you're going up, to the summit, you can make some mistakes, but, if you're still climbing, you usually get to the top... coming down, however, there are often lots of places where you can turn down the wrong switchback and end up at a very different place than you started. In NH, in the Whites, if you go down the wrong side of some of the Presidentials, instead of ending up at a friendly AMC building, you could end up at the base of the Great Gulf Wilderness, with no shelter for many miles, and all of it requiring almost another summit attempt to get to a trail that will lead you out!

When you're climbing, always look behind you, and notice what the trail forks look like from the other direction. (Tip from grandpa back in the stone age, or when I was a boy, as my son would imply.)

I've been hiking up there before, I can see how he could've gotten lost. He must've tried going down the ski hut trail, rather than the more traveled summit hut trail. It is much, much steeper than the normal route, a broken ankle could easily happen. Also, it's easy to get lost on your way down because the trail isn't very well defined in areas. It's different than ascending up the mountian, while coming down you don't always have your destination (the peak) in sight and know when you're heading in the right direction, one wrong turn could drop you into a dead end. And because it's so steep coming down, it's tempting to just keep going down hoping you'll find the trail, rather than backtrack and have to climb back up.

I have a friend who used to be in SAR for that area, he said that particular area (especially the neighboring icebox canyon)was one of the busiest spots for rescues. Extremely rugged terrain, very steep, and highly changable weather conditions. Combine that with easy access for beginning hikers and daytrippers, and trouble is inevitable.

When I saw this story I got to thinking about how I'd tape up a seriously sprained or broken ankle. It seems that it might help to put a good sized strong (green?) stick on each side of the leg and try to tape them to the calf, so when walking you're actually walking on the ends of the sticks, rather than putting any weight on the foot itself. Does that make any sense?

But then again I wonder if the sticks would press on the side of the ankle area and actually cause more pain.

Just wondering ...

Ken

I think making/using a crutch after immobilizing the ankle would work better.

-Blast

i think you nailed it.

immobilizing the ankle will help keep the pain at an even level and not bearing weight would prevent further injury to the bone, muscle, tendons etc.

a crutch or other walking aid would tend to keep you erect - able to see and be seen better, as opposed to sliding around on your backside as this hiker apparently did. additionally, you would present a larger image to any nosy predators.

I think crutches would be better (and probably easier in most circumstances) than trying to walk on broken bones.

I'm not sure about broken ankles, but with most broken straight bones, you must stabilize both joints on either end of the break.
And, trying to walk on a broken bone can drive the broken ends into a vein or artery, and you'll be bleeding to death, which would make for a short trip. This would also be a danger for those attempting traction splints: stretch the leg to straighten the bones, release the tension and the broken ends jam into a big vein or artery. Oops!

Sue