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The teen couldn’t bear weight on his injured leg, yet still hiked over a quarter-mile back toward the summit.
The summit of Mount Washington. JOSEPH PREZIOSO / AFP via Getty Images, File
August 5, 2026 | 10:29 AM
1 minute to read
An 18-year-old from Massachusetts suffered a lower-leg injury about a half-mile from Mount Washington’s summit on Tuesday afternoon, and despite not being able to bear weight on his injured leg, he hiked back toward the summit as rescuers responded.
The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department says it received a 911 call about the injured hiker — Topsfield’s Andrew Nelson — on the Tuckerman Ravine Trail at about 3 p.m. Fish and Game conservation officers, as well as Androscoggin Valley Search and Rescue personnel, then began their response.
“Nelson was hiking with eight other friends, and while awaiting response from the rescue crew, he attempted to make his way back towards the summit,” Fish and Game said in a release. “Nelson, with occasional assistance from his hiking companions, hopped, crawled, and otherwise used sheer grit and determination to continue moving back up Tuckerman Ravine Trail towards the summit of Mt. Washington.”
The rescue crews took the Mount Washington Auto Road to the summit and then hiked down to Nelson, who had already made it 0.3 miles.
“Once rescuers reached him, a vacuum splint was put on his injured lower leg and he was placed in the litter and carried the final 0.2 of a mile,” the department said.
Nelson was eventually placed in an ambulance but ultimately declined to be taken to a hospital, instead opting for treatment back home.
John Waller
John Waller is a deputy editor overseeing news coverage on Boston.com. He is a Lexington native and Colby College graduate.
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