Hiker loses boot, then gets lost in deep snow off New Hampshire trail, rescuers say
A hiker lost his boot and then got lost in deep snow off a New Hampshire trail, rescuers said.
He and his two hiking buddies set out Thursday, Feb. 27, hoping to traverse the Presidential Range, but at some point decided to skip the full traverse and go back the way they came, New Hampshire Fish and Game said in a Feb. 28 post on Facebook.
They ran into trouble not long after when “the hiker suffered some sort of boot malfunction,” the agency said. He made it to a hut along the trail around 4 p.m. and called 911 for help.
He thought rescuers would respond to replace his boot and convinced his friends to continue down the Valley Way Trail while he waited for rescue, but then he was told “a boot malfunction did not constitute an emergency and he would have to rig up something” and keep going down the trail on his own, officials said.
He called 911 again about an hour later and said “he was now lost off trail” in deep snow and didn’t know which way to go, the agency said. Dispatchers tried to talk him back onto the trail about 200 feet from where he was lost, but he said “he was too wet, cold and exhausted to continue on and claimed he could not physically go on.”
Rescuers then set out to help him, and dispatchers told his hiking partners, the agency said. His hiking buddies turned around and hiked back up over half a mile to find him.
The hiker was finally able to reach Valley Way Trail — but “had abandoned his pack with all his gear including his external light source,” officials said.
As the first rescuers were heading up from the bottom, his group spotted him and got him warmed up enough to start back down the trail, officials said.
Volunteer rescuers reached them around 8:15 p.m. and 2.4 miles up from the parking lot, officials said.
“They found that he had lost one of his boots,” officials said. “They treated his foot for cold weather injuries and provided footwear so he could continue the hike down.”
They reached the parking lot around 10:30 p.m., officials said.
“The hiker and his companions had good winter gear to include snowshoes and sleeping bags, but did not have a shelter,” officials said. “They had planned on hiking straight through without camping, but realized that plans change in the high peaks during the winter months and turned around near Thunderstorm junction.”
This story was originally published February 28, 2025 at 5:45 PM with the headline "Hiker loses boot, then gets lost in deep snow off New Hampshire trail, rescuers say."
