Overview
- The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department received a 911 call at about 3 p.m. Tuesday reporting an injured hiker about half a mile from Mount Washington’s summit.
- The injured hiker was identified as 18-year-old Andrew Nelson of Topsfield, Massachusetts, and he was with eight companions when he hurt his lower leg and could not bear weight.
- While awaiting rescuers, Nelson hopped, crawled and used occasional help from friends to move roughly 0.3 miles back toward the summit.
- Conservation officers and Androscoggin Valley Search and Rescue personnel drove the Mount Washington Auto Road to the summit, hiked down to reach him, applied a vacuum splint, placed him on a litter and carried him the final stretch to the summit.
- Rescuers reached the summit shortly before 6 p.m., transferred Nelson to an ambulance, and he declined transport to a hospital and planned to seek treatment at home according to Fish and Game.