The two friends had uploaded New Hampshire’s challenge Monte Washington Trail a month ago. They returned and did it again on Sunday after walking through the neighboring peaks in the white mountains. Both veteran hikers, the women were an hour behind their descent and lost daylight, but they had warm clothes, headlights and other teams.
Then the wind went into motion. The temperature fell. They were in snow conditions and bleaching to the waist. They were lost in the highest mountain of the Northeast, known for their extreme and changing climate.
“That snow has nothing to stick to,” said Amy Cotter, a specialist in weather education and education with the Mount Washington Observatory in the 6,288 feet peak (1,916 meters). “That snow hit very easily.”
One of Kathyrn McKee’s snow rackets got caught in a “firing trap”, a hole created in the snow under the trees.
“He took about 20 minutes out of that,” he recalled in an interview with Associated Press. “And that kept happening. And so we reached a point where we were literally, how to sweep our bellies to try to reach the next point and only fight so much that it was not working. ”
After about an hour of trying to rescue, McKee, 51, from Southborough, Massachusetts, and Blessed Lelacheur, 54, from Westborough, Massachusetts, called 911. They arrived at the Fish and New Hampshire Conservation Officers , which traced their coordinated GPS and directed them towards the path, just 34 feet (10 meters) away.
It did not work.
“They ended up on the road several times, but they could not follow it, since it had been completely erased by the wind and snow,” said the sergeant. Matthew Holmes of the Fishing and Hunting Department. After multiple attempts to try to locate the path and several phone calls from 6 pm, “the two needed to curl up in the snow to keep heat and wait for help,” he said.
The temperature at the summit was 2 degrees below zero (minus 19 Celsius), with sustained winds from 50 to 60 mph (80 to 96 kph) at that time, said Holmes.
McKee and Lelacheur were trapped at a height of approximately 5,000 feet (1,524 meters).
McKee said he had gloves with coatings, but that he still lost the use of his hands due to the cold.
“I entered my first aid child to take the emergency blanket and additional hands heater,” he said. “I couldn’t open the chest because my hands were frozen.”
The two sat there with the wind blowing on them for about six hours.
“I was terrified that my friend could die in front of me and, you know, or could die,” McKee said. “And how do we get here? So, do you think about that, but you can’t stay in that process of thought because that is not going to take you out. So we continue to focus on what is the next thing we can do.”
McKee said they grabbed a bag and used it as a wind guard. It was wrapped in a cover used on rugs and sleeping bags.
“I was buried in the snow at that time, so it was basically an insulator. So that kind of help. But it also meant that I was still, I wasn’t really moving, “he said.
For Sunday night, the Snowcat of the Mount Washington State Park, a ski fastener -like vehicle, started on the mountain car road with nine rescuers and reached the summit just before midnight. The teams made their way through the blown snow towards the wind to the path. They approached the last known location of the hikers at 1:20 am on Monday, but they had not yet made contact.
“The only way to locate the path was through GPS navigation, and the realization was slow due to the tremendous effort required to break the path in the deep snow,” said Holmes.
McKee and Lelacheur were found half an hour later. They had suffered freezing, mainly in their hands.
The teams created emergency shelters for them, and by 3 in the morning on Monday, they were able to move on their own. At 4:15 am, rescuers and hikers toured the Base Station of the COG Railroad, a train led by locomotives that goes up to the mountain peak.
Holmes said that both women were prepared for a winter walk, had emergency team and had experience in winter hiking. But they didn’t expect them to lose their trial. McKee and Lelacheur had received training on walks from the Apalachian Mountain Club chapter in Worcester, Massachusetts.
“We feel very horrible for having to do that (911) called, but we do save our lives, and we are eternally grateful,” McKee said about his rescuers.
Both said they would walk again in the white mountains and add a small emerging tent to their team in case they need to seek refuge.
“Or you return to the horse, or not,” McKee said. “I will not have a problem to return to the horse. I will do it as safe as I can. But I recognize that there are risks in what we do. ”
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