Crews in N.H. search for teen hiker
Mass. native on trail alone
Authorities in New Hampshire searched a second day yesterday for a Massachusetts teenager who was reported missing Sunday morning after setting out on a hike.
Liza Poinier, information officer for the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, said Scott Mason, 17, of Halifax, left the Appalachian Mountain Club's Pinkham Notch Visitor Center near Gorham about 8:30 a.m. Saturday.
Mason told staff at the visitor center that he was embarking on a 17-mile hike along the Appalachian Trail that would take him over the summits of Mount Washington and Mount Madison, and that he planned to complete the hike in one day.
Just before midnight last night, dispatcher David Miller at the local State Police barracks, based out of Twin Mountain, N.H., said the search was halted and would resume this morning.
Lieutenant Douglas Gralenski of New Hampshire Fish and Game, who is coordinating the search, said rescue teams were in the mountains until 10 p.m. on Sunday and resumed the search yesterday morning with 28 members. Yesterday afternoon a helicopter from the Maine Forest Service was to start an aerial search, Gralenski said. The US Forest Service, Appalachian Mountain Club, Mountain Rescue Service, and Androscoggin Valley Search and Rescue are rendering assistance.
Searchers found boot prints of a solo traveler yesterday and are following them, authorities said, but they are uncertain whether they belong to Mason because of the heavy foot traffic over the weekend.
Temperatures in the area have been relatively mild, in the 40s overnight. Still, Poinier said, conditions remain difficult in some areas, with deep snows melting. There is also a danger of avalanche.
Mason's mother, Jory Mason, told WMUR-TV that he is experienced and has winter gear, including crampons and snowshoes, the Associated Press reported. She said he did not have overnight gear.
