CONTACT:
Lieutenant Mark Ober
603-788-4850
603-271-3361
April 7, 2025

Thompson & Meserves Purchase, NH – On Saturday, April 5, 2025, Conservation Officers, volunteers from Androscoggin Valley Search and Rescue (AVSAR), Pemigewassett Valley Search and Rescue (PEMI SAR), Mountain Rescue Services (MRS), and COG Railway personnel responded to a call of a hiker with multiple injuries off the north side of Jewell Trail, not far from Mt. Clay. The hiker had reportedly slipped and fallen in the icy conditions and slid several feet off trail before striking an object. The hiker, who was identified as William Tessier, 29, of Carignan, QC, was descending after summiting Mt. Washington and was hiking with four companions.

The incident occurred at approximately 3:45 p.m., and a call for help was made by Tessier via 911. NH Fish and Game reached out to the Cog Railway for assistance in relaying rescuers up the train tracks to where the Westside Trail crosses the tracks known as Skyline. The Cog has always been willing to help in every rescue situation, and this time they provided a train which saved rescuers from having to hike nearly 3 miles up the Jewell Trail in rain and icy and windy conditions to access Tessier. The Cog took rescuers up the tracks in two separate groups. Rescuers still had to hike nearly a mile, encountering high winds and icy conditions across the ridge above 5,000 feet elevation the whole time.

The first rescuers arrived at Tessier at 7:24 p.m. They treated him for a leg injury, shoulder injury and hypothermia. After treating him, he was placed in a litter and carried uphill back across Gulfside Trail to Skyline. This was a Herculean task: 20 rescuers took turns carrying Tessier uphill into 40– 60+ mile per hour winds across ice-covered rocks. There were injuries suffered by rescuers during this effort. Fortunately, the rescue crew made it to the train at 10:15 p.m. without further incident.

Tessier and the rescue team arrived at the Base Station at 10:45 p.m., where he was transferred into the Twin Mountain Ambulance and transported to Littleton Regional Healthcare for treatment.

Without the dedicated SAR volunteers from AVSAR, PEMI SAR, MRS, and the Cog Railway’s willingness to help, this rescue mission would not have gone as well as it did. The weather was terrible and the conditions were potentially life threatening, but each group responded to the call for assistance and endured less than hospitable weather conditions to save the life of this hiker.