Skier dies after 600-foot fall down Tuckerman Ravine

‘Traveling in avalanche terrain in these conditions safely requires careful use of mountaineering tools and equipment and the skills to use them.’ US FOREST SERVICE

A 20-year-old woman died after she fell hundreds of feet down Tuckerman Ravine while skiing on New Hampshire’s Mount Washington Saturday afternoon, and two other skiers suffered traumatic injuries in falls down the steep and icy backcountry terrain, the US Forest Service said Sunday.

Madison Saltsburg fell about 600 vertical feet down the ravine and suffered “fatal traumatic injuries,” the Forest Service said in a statement. Saltsburg and her skiing partner faced “hard, icy snow surfaces, open crevasse holes, and unforgiving conditions for a slip and fall,” the agency said.

A rescue team from the Mount Washington Avalanche Center evacuated Saltsburg off the mountain, the Forest Service said.

Rescuers also assisted two other skiers who suffered serious injuries from rocks and ice while falling down the firm snow surface, the Forest Service said. No further details about their conditions were immediately released.

Multiple other falls were reported on the mountain Saturday but did not result in serious injuries.

“The snow rangers and emergency personnel were up there late last night. They’re exhausted,” Colleen Mainville, a spokesperson for the Forest Service, told the Associated Press.

The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for Saturday night into Sunday, and Mount Washington received about a foot of snow overnight, according to Michael Clair, a meteorologist with the weather service office in Gray, Maine.

Officials said skiing conditions on Mount Washington and Tuckerman Ravine were hard and icy because of a lack of snow and recent cold temperatures. The National Weather Service reported wind gusts of more than 60 miles per hour late Saturday afternoon.

“Traveling in avalanche terrain in these conditions safely requires careful use of mountaineering tools and equipment including crampons, ice axe, and the skills to use them,” the Forest Service said.

The avalanche probability was low Saturday, but springtime hazards including refrozen snow surfaces, falling ice, and crevasses were predicted, the Forest Service said.

Tuckerman Ravine, situated about a mile below the summit of Mount Washington, is a popular location for backcountry skiers, and is known for its steep and challenging terrain.

Rescue crews have assisted multiple hikers in recent weeks on Mount Washington, the tallest peak in the Northeast at 6,288 feet.

On Thursday night, a 23year-old hiker from Kentucky was rescued after he went off a trail and fell into the Ammonoosuc Ravine, where he hit his head and face and became hypothermic, according to the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department. He also lost a sneaker.

A rescue team was able to reach the man, Joabe Barbosa, and provided him with food, a warm drink, a headlamp, and proper winter gear, including a pair of boots. He was helped off the trail and taken by ambulance to a hospital.

In February, a 22-year-old hiker from Portsmouth, N.H., Cole Matthes, became caught in windy and frigid temperatures on Mount Washington and stepped onto a patch of snow-covered ice, sending him sliding hundreds of feet down a ravine.

A dramatic 11-hour rescue operation involving about a dozen volunteers ensued, and Matthes survived. He has said he is “extremely grateful” to the people who saved him and admitted he “made poor decisions and was underprepared.”