The two friends were hiking the challenging Washington Trail in New Hampshire a month ago. They returned and did it again after trekking through the adjacent peaks of White Mountain on Sunday. Both veteran hikers, women were an hour behind schedule with descent and losing daylight, but they had warm clothes, headlamps and other gear.
The wind then kicked. The temperature has dropped. They were in deep snow and whiteout conditions. They were lost in the highest mountains in the northeast and were known for their extreme and variable weather.
“There’s nothing to stick to in that snow,” said Amy Cotter, a weather observer and education expert at Mount Washington Observatory, at its 6,288-foot peak. “That snow is whipped very easily.”
One of Kathyrn McKee’s Snowshoes was stuck in a “sprue strap,” a hole made in the snow under a tree.
“It took me 20 minutes to get out of there,” she recalled in an interview with the Associated Press. “And that kept happening, and we literally ran our belly to try and get to the next point, where we were struggling to the point that wasn’t working. ”
After about an hour of rescue attempts, McKee, 51, of Southborough, Massachusetts, and McKee, 54, of Westborough, Massachusetts, were called 911. They’re just 34 feet away – towards the trail.
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It didn’t work.
“They went on the trail several times and couldn’t follow it because the wind and snow completely erased it,” Sgt. Matthew Holmes in the Fish and Games category. After multiple attempts to find the trail and several calls starting around 6pm, he said, “They were warmed up in the snow and needed them to wait for help.” .
The temperature at the summit was below zero (minus 19 degrees Celsius), with a sustained wind of 50-60 mph at the time, Holmes said.
Mackie and Lelature were stuck at an altitude of about 5,000 feet.
Mackie said she wears gloves on liner but still lost the use of her hands due to a cold.
The summit of Mount Washington, New Hampshire, on January 30th, 2023. Robert F. Bukati/AP Photo
“I went to the emergency child and grabbed an emergency blanket and an extra hand warmer,” she said. “My hands were frozen so I couldn’t open my chest.”
They sat there and the wind blew for about six hours.
“I was afraid that my friend might die in front of me.” And how did you get here? So you think about it, but you’re not going to kick you out, so you can’t stay in that thought process. So we kept focusing on what we could do next. ”
Mackie said they grabbed the bag and used it as a wind guard. She was wrapped in the cover used for her sleeping mat and bag.
“I was basically insulated because I was buried in the snow at the time, so that was helpful. But that meant I wouldn’t move and I was really not moving. I did,” she said.
By the end of Sunday, the Snowcats at Mount Washington State Park, a groomer-type vehicle at the ski resort, had started mountain auto roads with nine rescuers and arrived at the summit just before midnight. The crew were heading towards the trail through the windy snow. They approached the hiker’s last known location at 1:20am on Monday, but were not yet in touch.
“The only way to find the trail was through GPS navigation. The progress was slow due to the incredible effort required to break the trail in deep snow,” Holmes said.
Mackie and Lelature were discovered 30 minutes later. They were mainly suffering from frostbite on their hands.
The crew set up emergency shelters for them and by 3am on Monday they were able to move on their own. By 4:15am, rescuers and hikers had trekked to the base station of Cog Railway, a locomotive-led train that climbed to the summit.
Holmes said both women were prepared for winter hikes, had emergency equipment and had winter hike experience. But they didn’t expect to lose the trial. Mackie and Lelature were trained in hiking from the Appalachian Mountain Club branch in Worcester, Massachusetts.
“We feel really bad that we have to call it (911) but it saved our lives and we are forever grateful,” Mackie said. He spoke about the people.
Both said they’ll be hiking again in White Mountain and adding a small pop-up tent in their gear just in case they need to ask for shelter.
“You either go back to the horse or not,” Mackie said. “I’m not going to have any problems getting back to the horse. I’ll do it as safe as possible, but I know there are risks to what we’re doing.”
Kathy McCormack and Michael Casey
