Name: Ty Gagne 
Region: White Mountains
Favorite spots in NH: Northern Presidential, Franconia Notch, and ice climbing in Crawford Notch
CEO of New Hampshire Public Risk Management Exchange (Primex)
Author of the books Where You’ll Find Me: Risk, Decisions, and the Last Climb of Kate Matrosova and The Last Traverse: Tragedy and Resilience in the Winter Whites
(Visit your public library or local independant bookstore for copies of Gagne’s books!)
Author of the essays Emotional Rescue, which the film Infinite Storm is based on (starring Naomi Watts as Pam Bales) and Weakness in Numbers: How a hiking partner can be dangerous on hard lessons Gagne learned during a winter traverse of the Franconia Ridge in February 2008.
Ty Gagne visited Dan Egan at Studio Lab to record 603podcast’s first episode on what it means to adventure in New Hampshire, specifically in the infamously challenging White Mountains. Gagne got his first taste of the Whites in grade school on class trips to mountains like Chocorua and Moosilauke. His watershed moment that lead Gagne to a lifelong pursuit of adventure was in high school when his Industrial Arts teacher brought him climbing and showed him how to repel. To this day his teacher remains Gagne’s trusted climbing partner.
In this episode, Gagne digs into some of the most memorable and tragic fatalities in the White Mountains and how risk management and decision making are key elements to our experiences in the outdoors. Gagne has spent hundreds of hours speaking with First Responders and the communities affected by these incidents to create a story through a relatively objective lens. In this episode, Gagne reflects on his own adventures in the Whites and shares his professional perspective on risk in the outdoors, what it means to be experienced in the backcountry, how to create safe group environments in the mountains, and more.
What makes the Whites so challenging?
Gagne shares what makes the White Mountains so alluring is also what makes them challenging terrain to navigate:
The unique and unpredictable weather patterns
Locations within 10 miles of each other can have drastically different weather. Gagne references the weather in Franconia Notch which can be storming and grey while all around is blue skies and sunshine. The weather is known to change in this mountain range quickly and aggressively no matter what the season. Gagne references the danger of 40-50 mph winds which turn people off their course and cause exhaustion, which can lead to poor decision making.
The long traversing structure of the mountain range
The long scenic ridgelines of the Whites draw recreationalists in from all over. What people don’t prepare for are the committing remote hours you spend on these traverses where there is extreme exposure to the elements and many miles between shelters and aid.
For more insight into adventuring in the Whites, including accounts of tragic, hopeful, and exciting stories of recreationalists, and for professional advice on how to best travel in the mountains, tune in to Ty Gagne’s 603podcast episode.
For more information on Ty Gagne, visit https://www.fullconditionsnh.com/
Follow Ty Gagne on instagram @fullconditionsnh
