How a 17-Year-Old Survived Trouble in Mount Washington

Scott Mason is an Eagle Scout who thought he could hike alone in snowy conditions until rising water and deep snow had him stranded for three nights.

It was the longest three days of his life.

On Saturday Scott went for a day hike up Mount Washington alone. Trouble started when he decided to take a shortcut down after spraining his ankle. People tend to get lost when they take shortcuts but Scott was not lost. He just didn’t expect the rivers to be stronger than it should be due to unseasonably warm weather.

He almost got himself killed when he fell into a run-off that was about two and a half feet deep and probably around 30 mph. If he had fallen all the way, he would have been sucked away and never to be found.

Luckily Scott kept his cool. Panic would only get him killed. After all, he teaches survival skills in his scout troop. He wore plastic bags inside his boots to keep his feet dry while he tried to find his way out of being stranded.

To survive the cold night he would crawl beneath the snow-covered pine trees to protect himself from the notorious winds and hunkered down in a bivvy. It was smart of him to carry a bivvy even for a day hike in case of emergencies.

For warmth, Scott started fires with a hand sanitizer gel and used evergreen branches for fuel.

On Monday, he tried to signal a helicopter by waving his hiking poles and reflective bivvy sack but was unsuccessful because the rescuers expected him to be swept away lower down by the river. A signalling mirror would have done a better job at getting the pilot’s attention.

By this time, Scott had already decided to climb up the summit so that he can ask help from the mountaintop weather observatory.

Rescuers found him Tuesday on his way to the mountaintop weather observatory. According to Scott, he would never hike alone in snow conditions. Ironically the original trail he was following was dry and clear.