MOUNT WASHINGTON, N.H. — Authorities have identified a skier who died in an avalanche on Mount Washington.
A spokesman for the White Mountain National Forest says 32-year-old Nicholas Benedix of Campton, New Hampshire, was buried under about 5 feet of snow in Raymond Cataract for about an hour Thursday afternoon before rescuers dug him out.
Benedix was skiing alone and was pronounced dead several hours later.
The spokesman said the avalanche was approximately 135 feet wide at the crown.
Thursday’s avalanche was one of at least four human-triggered avalanches on the mountain that day as slabs of snow formed by wind warmed up and weakened. The Mount Washington Avalanche Center run by the Forest Service listed the avalanche danger as “moderate” on Saturday on throughout the Presidential Range because of above-freezing temperatures and recent rains.
At 6,288 feet tall, Mount Washington is the Northeast’s highest peak and is notorious for its bad weather.
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