Hiker dies on Camels Hump

Oct. 7, 2023  |  By Lisa Scagliotti 

Richmond Rescue's Camels Hump Backcountry Rescue Team members on the trail on Thursday. Courtesy photo

A 53-year-old hiker from Maryland died on Camels Hump on Thursday afternoon.

Vermont State Police say there is an investigation and the state medical examiner will determine the cause and manner of death, but the incident is considered the result of a medical event and not suspicious. 

First responders received a call shortly after 3 p.m. Thursday that an individual was in distress on the Burrows Trail on the Huntington side of the mountain; CPR was in progress, according to Richmond Rescue. 

The agency’s Camels Hump Backcountry Rescue crew was dispatched. “Initial coordinates placed the patient at 2,800 feet. CPR was being performed by family and bystanders,” Richmond Rescue Director Michael Chiarella reported.

EMS and backcountry rescue responders headed to the scene. By the time they arrived, however, the patient was deceased, officials said. 

The operation then shifted to a recovery mission to safely remove everyone in the party from the mountain. Everyone involved was back at the trailhead shortly after 7 p.m. 

State police later issued a news release identifying the deceased as Mark Seidel, age 53, from Centerville, Maryland. “Life saving measures were performed but were unfortunately unsuccessful,” the police report noted. “This death appears to be a result of a medical event and is not considered suspicious.”

Richmond Rescue responded with 13 personnel including the backcountry team. They were assisted by several other agencies including Waterbury Backcountry Rescue Team, Huntington Fire Department, Shelburne Rescue and state police.

“We offer our sincere condolences to the family of the deceased,” Chiarella said in his account of the operation.

Brian Lindner, team leader for Waterbury Backcountry Rescue, said this case was the 10th search and rescue call for his team so far this year and the unit’s 262nd rescue since it was formed in April 2002.

A local historian with a keen interest in Camels Hump, Lindner said there now have been “at least 13 fatalities on Camels Hump, including multiple airplane crashes.”

This was at least the 121st known rescue mission on Camels Hump since 1933. Of those, 70 have occurred in the past 10 years, Lindner said.