Hiker dies after medical emergency Sunday, on Mount Major

ALTON — A 46-year-old hiker, from Portsmouth, died on Sunday, after a suspected medical emergency while climbing Mount Major. The parking lot, which was already overfilled with trail users, was closed, as first responders tended to the patient.

Ron Arsenault, a conservation officer with New Hampshire Fish and Game who covers Alton in District 2, said someone hiking with the patient called 911 at 9:41 a.m. on Oct. 11. He believed the deceased hiker was with a group.

The caller reported they were hiking up the trail and a person collapsed about 0.75 miles up on the blue trail, just after its split with the yellow trail.

“The 911 call came in from someone in his group, we got the coordinates off of that and plotted it,” Arsenault said. “Knowing the fire department could get right to him was huge.”

Arsenault said the hiker was in a location easy for responders to get to, saying he could even probably drive his cruiser close to the location, but off-road vehicles can more efficiently and easily navigate the terrain.

Alton Fire Chief James Reinert said his department’s duty crew and an ambulance responded, and personnel started up the trail on foot. The department’s utility terrain vehicle arrived and was able to bring up additional personnel and equipment to the patient.

Reinert said the UTV is one of the department’s “key pieces of equipment” to navigate the trail system, and helped bring the patient to the base of the mountain to be loaded into the ambulance.

Other hikers on the trail started CPR before first responders arrived, who then took over patient care using a LUCAS device to assist with automatic compressions.

The patient was loaded into the ambulance and taken to Huggins Hospital in Wolfeboro, where they died. Arsenault said the hiker had a medical emergency.

The identity of the hiker has not been released.

Responding to the incident were Alton and Gilmanton fire-rescues, Alton Police and NH Fish and Game.

Busy weekend

Arsenault noted Mount Major is always a popular hiking spot, and was especially busy during Columbus Day Weekend. He closed the parking lot as fire vehicles were in the area, and stood at the entrance redirecting vehicles to park along each side of Route 11, in order to not interfere with emergency response.

“There were people everywhere,” he said.

Reinert said since it was peak foliage over the weekend, there was an influx of visitors, and more calls than usual. One accident was on Suncook Valley Highway, also known as Route 28, near Mallard Drive, where a vehicle hit a utility pole and knocked power lines down. One person was taken to the hospital for minor injuries by a Barnstead Fire Department ambulance, whose personnel assisted at the scene.

There were seven calls for service ranging from medical emergencies to motor vehicle accidents starting at 8 a.m. on Oct. 11.

“We were busy,” Reinert said. “That’s a high average for us, for basically 10.5 hours.”