UPDATE: Boy Scout Leader Dies on Mountain Hike: Reports

UPDATED at 5:45 p.m.

A Boy Scout leader from Westminster died over the weekend while leading Scouts on a hike in the White Mountains of New Hampshire had trekked the same area previously, reports say.

WMUR TV reports the victim was Vernon R. Rippeon of Westminster, one of four adults leading a Boy Scout troop on a hike in the region. His two sons were among the Scouts on the trip.

A press release from New Hampshire authorities says that Fish and Game officials received a call about 11 a.m. Sunday from State Police about an emergency on Crawford Path in Bean’s Purchase. A man was having a heart attack about 1.5 miles up the trail.

Emergency responders from several agencies, including the U.S. Forest Service and Fish and Game Conservation officers, responded.

CPR was started immediately, but Rippeon, 51, wasn’t revived reports New Hampshire Public Radio.

Gunnar Burdt, scoutmaster of Troop 735 of Gamber, told the Associated Press that the nearly three-mile hike to an Appalachian Mountain Club hut was planned by Rippeon.

“He was our map guy, our GPS man,” Burdt said. “We relied on him heavily for planning these adventures.”

Burdt described Rippeon as an avid hiker and scoutmaster who had visited the area about six years ago with his older son, Ryan, 17. Rippeon was a Navy veteran and an engineer, the wire service reports.

The 8.5-mile Crawford Path was originally built in the early 1800s and is a segment of the Appalachian Trail, says the U.S. Forest Service.

The Scout group planned a five-day stay in the White Mountains.