A group of hikers who witnessed a rock climber plummet 60ft on Mount Washington have been praised by mountain rescue crews for their quick-thinking actions that helped save the man's life.
According to officials from New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, Lukas Lamb Wotton, 31, of New Orleans was climbing in the area of Pinnacle Buttress in Huntington Ravine around midday on Wednesday, July 2 when he fell.
The hikers who saw the fall called 911 and shouted to another group of rock climbers who were able to make their way over to Wotton and communicate his condition to emergency services. The climbers provided first aid to Wotton, who was found to be suffering from multiple injuries, some "potentially life threatening."
Wotton was located in difficult terrain, so a group of elite climbers from Mount Rescue Service began their ascent from below while a Black Hawk helicopter also flew to the scene. Favorable conditions meant the helicopter crews were able to hoist Wotton shortly after 3pm and transport him to the hospital, where at last update, he had undergone surgery.
"This incident highlights the special relationships that exist in the outdoors of New Hampshire. Had hikers not seen this incident happen and shouted to nearby climbers, it could have been hours, if not days, before the victim was located," states the NHFGD report.
Wotton is listed as a coastal wetland ecosystem/landscape ecologist at Tulane University, and rescue crews report he had climbed in the area before and was familiar with the route that he was on at the time of his accident.
