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FatalityOutcome: FatalFall

Fatality — Mount Washington, Sep 19, 2013

·Mount Washington·Tuckerman Ravine Trail

25-year-old from Boisbriand, Quebec

Luc Paquette, 25, was descending the Tuckerman Ravine Trail with friends on September 19, 2013 when he stepped off-trail to view a waterfall and fill his water bottle, slipped on wet terrain, and fell roughly 150 feet onto a ledge. Despite an extensive rescue involving a National Guard Black Hawk, he was pronounced dead at Memorial Hospital.

What we can learn

Mount Washington Observatory guidance cited at the time: the Tuckerman Ravine Trail 'ascends a cliff, and travel off the trail would bring you over a precipice with disastrous results.' Two off-trail waterfall-viewing fatalities (Baillie 2010, Paquette 2013) on the same trail in three years.

Contributing factors

Off trail
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Other recorded incidents on Mount Washington

Part of the WMNF Hiker Incident Database. Every entry cites a primary or near-primary source; details are refined as the record is reviewed.