Two hikers were rescued from Mount Flume on Thursday after icy trail conditions prompted a call for help.
They were stuck near the top of the Flume Slide in Lincoln, and told authorities they could not safely descend from their location. Officers with New Hampshire Department of Fish and Game said the only way to get to the pair was by sending rescuers with crampons, ropes and harnesses.
Members of the Mountain Rescue Service and Pemi Valley Search and Rescue teams lowered the hikers to a safe point and they were able to hike out on a lower stretch of the trail, making it to the trailhead by just after 11 p.m.
Fish and Game officers say that Casey Cullinan of Warwick, R.I., and William Becker, of Hope Valley, R.I., both 30, were prepared for an overnight winter hike and camping, but only had micro spikes.
Rescuers had to set up safety lines due to swollen brook crossings at numerous locations.
“This is just a reminder that with warmer temperatures and snow melting, crossing brooks and streams might not be possible,” Fish and Game officials said in a statement.
Mount Flume, elevation 4,328 feet, is located east of Interstate 93 and southwest of Franconia Notch State Park.
Mike Carmon from the Mount Washington Observatory warns of “tricky water crossings” in the backcountry in his latest recreational forecast. Look for the Observatory’s regional forecasts here, and their higher summits forecast.
This week’s varying wet and warm weather patterns prompted the rescheduling of the Tuckerman Inferno race on Mount Washington. The Conway Daily Sun reports the event, originally scheduled for Saturday, will be pushed back to April 11.
