CONTACT:
Lieutenant Mark Ober
603-788-4850
603-271-3361
August 5, 2026
Sargent’s Purchase, NH – On Tuesday, August 4, 2026, at approximately 3:00 p.m., NH Fish and Game received a 911 call about an injured hiker on the Tuckerman Ravine Trail near the Tuckerman Junction approximately ½ mile from the summit of Mt. Washington. The hiker identified as Andrew Nelson, 18, of Topsfield, MA, had suffered a lower-leg injury and could not bear weight on the injured leg. A rescue response from Fish and Game Conservation Officers and Androscoggin Valley Search and Rescue was initiated.
Nelson was hiking with eight other friends and while awaiting response from the rescue crew, he attempted to make his way back towards the summit. Nelson, with occasional assistance from his hiking companions, hopped, crawled, and otherwise used sheer grit and determination to continue moving back up Tuckerman Ravine Trail towards the summit of Mt. Washington.
As rescue personnel arrived, they were transported up the Mt. Washington Auto Road to the summit and hiked down to the injured hiker.
Nelson made it 0.3 miles by the time the first rescuers arrived on scene. Once rescuers reached him, a vacuum splint was put on his injured lower leg and he was placed in the litter and carried the final 0.2 of a mile
At 5:55 p.m., the rescue crew made it to the summit where Nelson was placed in a Fish and Game cruiser and transported down the Auto Road where he was then transferred to the Gorham Ambulance. Nelson ultimately denied transport to Androscoggin Valley Hospital in Berlin, but chose instead to seek treatment back at his home.