SARGENTS PURCHASE, N.H. (WCAX) – Two women are recovering after they were caught in whiteout conditions on Mount Washington over the weekend.
Kathryn McKee, 51, and Beata Lelacheur, 54, both of Massachusetts were hiking on the Jewell Trail Sunday when authorities say they became bogged down in deep snow and strayed from the trail near the 5,000-foot elevation of the 6,288-foot peak.
After contacting New Hampshire Fish and Game on their phone around 6 p.m., authorities launched a full-blown rescue by 8 p.m.
McKee says it was a terrifying moment when she realized they couldn’t survive on their own, struggling to find the trail in extremely windy conditions and fending off frostbite.
“What would happen is we were walking along and then we’d dip, and then you’re chest-high. And a couple times our snowshoes would get stuck on the spruce trees and you have no way of getting them out,” McKee said. “And you’re rocking back and forth 20 minutes doing this, you’re exhausting yourself.”
Rescue crews reached the hikers by 1:50 a.m. but they didn’t make it to the base of the Cog Railway until 4:15 a.m. One of the women was taken to Littleton Regional Hospital for further evaluation and treatment of cold weather injuries.
“Both hikers were prepared and had winter hiking experience, but ultimately encountered unforeseen conditions. Had they not had the amount of gear with them that they did, it is unlikely that they would have survived until rescuers reached them,“ New Hampshire Fish and Game officials said in a statement. “Mother Nature has the final say, and preparedness — above all — is the difference between life and death in the mountains of New Hampshire.”