Massachusetts hikers rescued in chest-high snow, high winds on Mount Washington
New Hampshire Fish and Game said the hikers were prepared with a variety of gear and had they not been so prepared, they may not have survived being out in such extreme conditions for such a long time.
FILE: Meteorologists battle near-daily hurricane-force wind gusts atop Mount Washington Observatory
Mount Washington Observatory is notorious for experiencing some of the world's most extreme weather.
RANDOLPH, N.H.– Two hikers were saved from whiteout conditions and chest-deep snow in an overnight rescue operation on Mount Washington.
The rescue mission began on Sunday evening when two hikers from Massachusetts became stranded off a trail at about 5,000 feet in elevation, New Hampshire Fish and Game said.
At about 6 p.m., 911 dispatchers contacted New Hampshire Fish and Game after the hikers called to say they were lost off the Jewell Trail and in very deep snow. With the help of GPS coordinates and a phone call from a conservation officer, it was found the women were only 34 feet off the trail.
It took two hours for the hikers to make their way back toward the trail, trekking through chest-deep snow and "spruce traps" - holes created in the snow under trees. NH Fish and Game said the hikers made it back onto the trail several times, but wind-blown snow made it impossible to follow the trail.
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They advised the women to huddle together to try and keep warm as NH Fish and Game decided it was time to begin a full-scale rescue operation to save the hikers.
By 8:30 p.m., weather conditions at the summit of Mount Washington were -2 degrees and sustained winds of 50-60 mph.
NH Fish and Game contacted Mount Washington State Park, who brought out their snow cat to take rescuers to the summit.
Mount Washington snow cat.
(New Hampshire Fish and Game Law Enforcement Division and Operation Game Thief/Facebook )
By midnight, after an hour of voyaging through whiteout conditions and snow shoeing through deep snow, the snow cat and nine search and rescuers from NH Fish and Game and the Mountain Rescue Service reached the top end of Jewell Trail.
At around 1:20 a.m., almost 7.5 hours after the hikers called 911 to report they were lost, the rescuers reached the hikers' last-known location on the trail.
Deep snow prevented the rescuers from moving quickly to locate the pair, but after 30 minutes they found them and started the process of getting them warm so they could move off the mountain.
NH Fish and Game said the rescuers were coherent, but suffering from cold-weather injuries.
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By 3 a.m., the hikers were warm enough to move on their own. They began the 75 minute descend along the trail toward the base station of Cog Railway, NH Fish and Game said.
Once they reached the base station, EMS evaluated the two hikers for injuries. One of the women was taken to a hospital for weather-related injuries.
NH Fish and Game said the hikers were prepared with a variety of gear and had they not been so prepared, they may not have survived being out in such extreme conditions for such a long time.
"Although technology and experience is certainly helping to find people more quickly, the fact remains that Mother Nature has the final say, and preparedness, above all, is the difference between life and death in the mountains of New Hampshire," the agency said.
NH Fish and Game said the hikers were extremely grateful for the efforts made to save them.