Hiker suffers hypothermia during trek on New England’s highest peak amid East Coast heat wave
By Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, Fox News
Published June 24, 2025, 8:21 p.m. ET
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In a striking contrast to the sweltering heat gripping much of the East Coast, a 55-year-old hiker from Texas was rescued in frigid and treacherous conditions Friday evening from the high peaks of New Hampshire’s White Mountains.
Caroline Wilson, 55, of Austin, Texas, was found hypothermic and unresponsive on the Gulfside Trail, approximately one mile north of the Cog Railway tracks, while hiking Mount Washington, New England’s highest peak, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department said in a release.
The department said Wilson became incapacitated during the hike, prompting her husband to call 911 at 5 p.m. He told authorities that she could no longer move or communicate.
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The White Mountains can be pretty unforgiving,” she said. “Weather changes here in a flash.” Photos from the scene of the rescue captured the misty environment and steep rocky terrain.
New Hampshire Fish and Game Department conservation officers, along with volunteers from Androscoggin Valley Search and Rescue, Pemigewassett Valley Search and Rescue, Mountain Rescue Service and personnel from the Mount Washington Cog Railway, mounted a complex response in severe alpine conditions to rescue Wilson.
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Again, another unprepared hiker not ready for “severe hypothermia” in the middle of a heat wave. Gets cold and wet in the mountains.
And, from personal experience, I saw those conditions twice.
First, in USAF Survival School, at ground level somewhere in the Idaho Montana forrest, we had hiked a few miles (maybe five) on a hot fall afternoon. We camped out (think of a bunch of city boys playing Boy Scouts) and it start to rain. The temperature dropped like a rock (Say 30 degrees) and everyone was cold, wet, and hungry. Oh what fun! At the debriefing from the “exercise”, the Senior Chief asked what we learned. After eliminating the profanity, his message was “be prepared for the weather to change on a dime, Mother Nature ain’t your Mom”. A lesson I soon forgot.
Second, a decade later, in Switzerland, as a tourist, we took ride to a (short) mountain by tram for five bucks a head and when we got out at a few thousand feet up, it was <synonym for the act of procreation> COLD. I got the pleasure of buying a (one size too small) sweater at the Gift Shop at a premium price (which I donated before we left). I remember that Senior Chief saying “I told you so!”.
Due to that unprepared hiker’s age, she would not be qualified for a Darwin Award. But Mother Nature is not very strict about the award rules when handing out death sentences. Again, look at all the resources used to save her. Who pays?
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