Hikers stranded on Mount Washington safe after harrowing overnight rescue

A snow cat from Mount Washington State Parks assisted rescuers who found two hikers stranded in a storm on Feb. 3, 2025, at about 5,000 feet elevation.  (NH Fish & Game photograph)

A snow cat from Mount Washington State Parks assisted rescuers who found two hikers stranded in a storm on Feb. 3, 2025, at about 5,000 feet elevation. (NH Fish & Game photograph) NH Fish & Game photograph

By JACKIE HARRIS

New Hampshire Public Radio

Published: 02-04-2025 5:31 PM

Search and rescue crews conducted an overnight rescue operation for two hikers who became stranded in whiteout conditions on Mount Washington Sunday evening.

Kathryn McKee and Beata Lelacheur of Massachusetts called 911 Sunday evening when they lost the Jewell Trail in deep snow at about 5,000 feet of elevation.

In a press release, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department said officers spoke with the hikers over the phone and gave them GPS coordinates to find the trail again.

For the next two hours, McKee and Lelacheur fought through chest-deep snow and spruce traps — deep holes underneath trees that hikers can fall into. They repeatedly found the trail and lost it as snow and wind erased evidence of the trail, and they finally decided to huddle up in the snow to keep warm and wait for help.

At 8:30 p.m. Fish and Game began a “full blown rescue operation” as temperatures at Mount Washington’s summit reached -2 degrees and sustained winds of 50-60 mph. The Mount Washington State Park’s snow cat arrived at the summit just before midnight with nine rescuers. Crews had to use GPS navigation to find the way, and broke trail through deep, wind-blown snow to reach the last known location of McKee and Lelacheur.

The rescuers found the hikers alive and coherent at just before 2 a.m. Crews set up emergency shelters to warm the hikers, who had cold weather injuries. After an hour, the hikers were able to move on their own and the group made its way down the Jewell Trail. The rescue party reached the Base Station of the Cog Railway at 4:15 a.m. Both hikers got medical evaluations, and one of them was taken to Littleton Regional Hospital for their cold weather injuries.

Fish and Game said the hikers were prepared with a variety of gear, had winter hiking experience and both had HikeSafe cards, voluntary hiker insurance. Officials said that if they didn’t have the gear they did, they likely wouldn’t have survived.

“Although technology and experience is certainly helping to find people more quickly, the fact remains that Mother Nature has the final say,” the department said in a news release. “Preparedness, above all, is the difference between life and death in the mountains of New Hampshire.”

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