Hikers on tallest mountain in Northeast rescued from whiteout snowstorm at 5,000 feet
Mount Washington in New Hampshire known for extreme weather conditions
By Stephen Sorace Fox News
Published February 6, 2025 7:55am EST
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Two experienced hikers were rescued from the tallest mountain in the Northeast after a whiteout snowstorm stranded them at about 5,000 feet on Sunday, authorities said.
Kathyrn McKee, 51, of Southborough, Massachusetts, and Beata LeLacheur, 54, of Westborough, Massachusetts, were trekking through a challenging Mount Washington trail in New Hampshire when the weather turned severe, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department (NHFG) said.
Temperatures dropped and winds kicked up, blowing snow so that the trail the friends were following was completely erased. The pair pushed through chest-deep snow, lost on the mountain.
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Temperatures at the summit fell to -2 degrees and sustained winds blasted at 50-60 mph, often with gusts significantly higher, by the time the agency began a rescue operation at 8:30 p.m., Holmes said.
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A half hour later, the rescuers found the two hikers alive and coherent, though both were suffering from cold weather injuries. The rescue crew set up emergency shelters and began to warm both hikers, who were able to move on their own after about an hour, officials said.
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Experienced hikers with advanced training still got in trouble. Imagine being in their situation.
When I was in USAF survival school in “good weather” during October in (I think) Idaho, I was cold, wet, and befuddled. And, we had “instructors” nearby to make sure we didn’t kill ourselves. And, it sure seems in retrospect we were trying: “camping in a dry stream bed that became wet at night”, blundering around a night to find “firewood”, making a fire with wet tinder, etc. etc. … And they in the “after action session”, we found out that we weren’t “the worst”. One group tried to make a tea out of hemlock and another tried to take down an adult female deer with a Swiss army knife. The instructor kicked over the tea and the deer was last see scampering out into the night with a Swiss army knife in her butt about a quarter inch.
Seriously, I think that the various parks should have rescue insurance so the taxpayer doesn’t have to bear the costs.
When I think how much calling an ambulance in the city costs, calling for rescue should be expensive enough to be “instructive” to avoid it in the future.
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