Authorities say a man who was hiking near the top of Mt. Willard in New Hampshire fell 300 feet to his death. New Hampshire Fish and Game said in a press release that the man was hiking with his wife Saturday morning when he fell and screamed for help.
“The hiker’s wife heard her husband scream and looked back to see him fall over the side of the mountain down a sheer cliff that stretched about 800 feet to the bottom,” according to the release. “Due to the icy conditions and the steepness of the terrain, the hiker’s wife called 911 for assistance.”
New Hampshire Fish and Game says when people from the Mountain Rescue Service and conservationists came to help the man, they found him dead about 300 feet below the summit.
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“Technicians were able to rappel down the cliff and finally locate the hiker at around 2:30 p.m.,” according to the release. The walker’s name was not released by authorities, but CNN spoke to his boss Monday morning.
Rob Arey, who is in charge of marketing, says the man was Joe “Eggy” Eggleston. He was a passionate steam engine driver who worked for the Mount Washington Cog Railway for about 30 years.
Hiker who died on Mt. Willard was a long-time employee of Cog Railway https://t.co/Xg67Yg3JSW
— WMUR TV (@WMUR9) December 13, 2022
Arey said Eggleston lost his hearing as a child because he had meningitis. However, he was very good at lip-reading and loved to take pictures while walking.
“He absolutely loved to walk, so he died doing what he loved,” said Arey CNN on a phone call. In a Facebook post about Eggleston’s death on Monday, the Mount Washington Cog Railway said it did “still processing the terrible news.”
“Eggy, who has lived gracefully since childhood with severe hearing loss, once said to us ‘where else can a deaf man fulfill his dream of driving a steam locomotive?’ His passion for The Cog was evident to anyone who ever shared a moment or service with him.
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