On a cold and rainy night, David Targan's headlamp did not dent the fog more than a few feet.
He had hiked up Mt. Monadnock in New Hampshire countless times over the past six years as a mountain patrol ranger, but on this night the landscape illuminated by the beam was unrecognizable as he blew his whistle in search of two teenagers.
At 1 a.m., the search for the boys was called off. A full search and rescue will start in six hours, their parents were told.
But when everyone returned to the base at first light, the boys walked out of the woods unharmed, having taken shelter under a rocky outcrop overnight.
It is the type of emergency that Targan responds to a few weekends each month, when he leaves behind a mountain of work as an associate dean of the College to work a mountain.
Not just any mountain - with some 150,000 visitors a year, Monadnock is the most climbed one in the United States. It hosts at least a dozen accessible trails graduated according to climbers' abilities. From the summit, a hiker can scan all the New England states, see north to Mt. Washington, and south to a hill in Woonsocket, R.I.
Targan undertook the patrol job six years ago as a volunteer, but began encountering medical emergencies that required additional knowledge to treat. So he received training to be able to respond to everything from a heart attack to a complex fracture, and now works part-time on weekends throughout the year.
"There are a lot of people, so there are a lot of situations," said Targan. "Some days it can be just a big hill and easy, and on other days it is a real serious mountain."
The job is a good counterbalance to his office work at Brown, said Targan.
After he closes his door in University Hall, Targan heads north to don a backpack loaded with first-aid supplies, a whistle, sleeping bag, clothes, food and water. He also carries a radio which allows him to communicate with other rangers, police officers, firefighters and 911 operators.
While on duty, Targan often climbs up the mountain - a 2,000 foot elevation gain - a few times each day. The average round-trip hike takes about four hours, he said.
Most accidents happen on the top of the mountain as people are heading down; and most injuries are caused by climbers wearing the wrong footwear, said Targan. An average day will include one emergency.
"People underestimate the conditions," said Targan. "It is really some of the worst weather in the U.S. The wind is very high and it is very cold."
When Targan was at Mt. Monadnock on Columbus Day, the wind chill index dipped below zero at the summit. Fortunately, there were no emergencies; four had occurred the previous Columbus Day, he said.
Cell phones both make his job easier and more difficult. Phones can speed the emergency response time, or they can lull hikers into a dangerous sense of security.
Several weeks ago, a hiker midway up Mt. Monadnock experienced a heart attack and used his cell phone to call 911. Targan was alerted by the operator, and he put an oxygen tank on his back and ran up the mountain to the victim at the same time another ranger ran down the mountain.
Both converged on the man. Two hours later he was in an ambulance and doing well, said Targan.
However, another pair of hikers who became lost in the woods trusted too much in the security of the cell phone and too little in a map and compass. When rangers asked them for a description of the area, one responded "trees." Their rescue lasted until 11 p.m., said Targan.
When an accident occurs and the victim cannot walk, rangers must carry the person off the mountain. Anyone weighing less than 150 pounds can be carried on the back of a ranger; anyone weighing more must be carried on a litter by a crew, said Targan.
Aside from the physical discomfort of injury or illness to a victim is the embarrassment of being the center of attention during a rescue, said Targan.
Even the man who suffered the heart attack was embarrassed by how many people had come to his aid. "He didn't want to be the center of attention," Targan said. It is a feeling he can relate to having injured his knees and shoulder on hikes.
As with any sport, injuries are a part of hiking, said Targan, who has climbed mountains all over the world.
On Mt. Monadnock, Targan knows most of the trails, however "even this one mountain looks so different when there is snow on it and when there is foliage. It is basically a new experience every time."
In the winter, the mountain patrol ranger position is unpaid, but Targan works anyway.
"I want to give back to the New Hampshire mountains that I've been hiking in since I was a kid," he said, referring to his days as a college student at Brown. Days not far removed from the two teenage boys who spent the night on the mountain a few weeks ago. - Kristen Cole