[at-l] Tinkham & Haas

[agaudet at TheWorld.com (agaudet@xxxxxxxxxxxx)]

Jim and/or Ginny Owen was refering to the death of Derek Tinkham on Mt.
Washington on Jan. 15, 1994. His death, and the role played by his partner
Jeremy Haas, has contributed a phrase to the lexicon of New England Hikers
and Climbers " getting haased". This phrase has now mae it to a UK website
on the internet, http://phrases.shu.ac.uk, where "haased" although
misspelled is defined "to be left out in the cold to die while your more
experienced partner takes off down to safety."

The part about taking off _down_ to safety isn't correct either, Jeremy
escaped by continuing to climb from Mt. Jefferson, over Mt. Clay and up to
the summit building on Mt. Washington in order to save his own life.

Another definition is "to be killed or maimed by following an incompetent
leader." There are other mentions of the phrase in rec.backcountry dating
to Feb. 1995 so the phrase might have it's origins with Nicholas Howe's
article, published in Yankee Magazine, Feb. 1995.

For those who are interested I was at Mt. Washington that Saturday morning
in 1994 leading a group of AMC hikers (I'm a former Winter leader for
AMC)in a summit attempt. At the base I decided that it was too cold to go
up and instead we did a below-treeline hike. All I knew of the conditions
up top was that it was expected to be blowing (40+ mph) and the daytime
temps would be -20 or lower. My hard and fast rule is to stay out of that
stuff although I've hiked several mountains at -20 (2 this past winter)
but with no wind.

More trivia: Derek was #111 on the Mt. Washington death list. By unlucky
chance I met & talked with #112 & #113 in Feb. the same year. I was at
Harvard Cabin, again leading a group this time to Mt. Moriah on the AT.
Our companions for Friday night were Monroe Cooper and Erik Lattey who
both fell to their deaths the next day while climbing in Huntington
Ravine.

I've taken the liberty to reproduce part of Nicholas Howe's article and
post it in a separate email. It seems appropriate to the recent
conversation
and it's timely as we get closer to real Winter climbing/hiking in the
Whites. The story is a grim reminder. --RockDancer AT'97, LT'01