Five hikers walked off Huntington Ravine with a hut caretaker

Five hikers made it down a steep, rain-soaked section of the Huntington Ravine Trail on November 7, the Concord Patch reported from a New Hampshire Fish and Game account. Conservation officers were notified about 5 p.m. The group could not safely keep going in heavy rain and low visibility. Officers called volunteers from the Appalachian Mountain Club and Androscoggin Valley Search and Rescue.

Because a full team would take time to reach that part of Mount Washington, the hikers tried the descent when the rain eased. They had ropes, crampons, microspikes, helmets, and warm layers. They got through most of the technical ground and met an Appalachian Mountain Club hut caretaker around 7:45 p.m. The caretaker had walked over from Hermit Lake Shelter and was the first rescuer on the scene. Nobody was injured. The caretaker guided them down the rest of the Huntington Ravine Trail, then returned to the shelter. The hikers continued on the Tuckerman Ravine Trail and reached the Pinkham Notch Visitor Center about 10 p.m.

Fish and Game named them as Andres Perez Gonzalez, 22, of Croton Falls, New York; Esteban Gonzalez, 23, of Cranston, Rhode Island; Robert Zieba, 23, of Albany, New York; Harrold Vega Montenegro, 26, of Malden, Massachusetts; and Jefferson Pazcoy, 22, of Brewster, New York.