Kathryn McKee knows how to prepare for subzero conditions. Trained in high-altitude and winter conditions, she made sure to bring lights, snowshoes, emergency gear, and extra battery packs for her hike in the White Mountains last weekend.
But after a long day traversing some of the highest points of the Presidentials , she and her hiking partner found themselves snowed in at 5, feet up with night falling. In fear for their lives, they called and waited for rescue, hardly believing their predicament. For nearly eight hours, McKee, 51, and her partner, Beata Lelacheur, 54, huddled in the darkness, waiting for a search team to make its way through subzero temperatures and sustained winds of 50 to 60 miles per hour.
McKee is back home in Southborough after a brief stay in the hospital. Even now, she still has no feeling in four of her fingers, but realizes she could have been in far worse shape. McKee considers herself an experienced hiker. She is a member of the Worcester chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club and has attended countless trainings on high-altitude backpacking and cold weather safety protocols.
The pair set out for the Jewell Trail around 7 a. So it was only after sunset that the conditions worsened. At p. Then the darkness fell and the wind picked up.
What had been an afternoon breeze turned into sustained winds, with gusts upward of 60 miles per hour, blowing snow into deep drifts. Temperatures at the summit dropped to -2 degrees, according to wildlife officials. Stand by. The two then called Over multiple calls, conservation officers tried to guide the two hikers down the mountain. Rescuers said that based on their GPS coordinates that put them near the upper end of the Jewell Trail, below the summit of Mount Clay, they were only 34 feet off the trail.
