Last-second text saves lost hiker ‘floundering in waist-deep snow,’ NH rescuers say

A hiker lost in heavy snow and without cell service sent a last-second text for help from his dying phone, and rescuers arrived, New Hampshire officials say.

The hiker, identified as a 52-year-old Massachusetts man, was on a solo trek in New Hampshire’s White Mountains when he became lost on Friday, March 21, the state Fish and Game Department said in a March 23 Facebook post.

He had packed for a two-day excursion, bringing many essentials except snowshoes, which he’d decided he wouldn’t need, the department said. But on the morning of day two he reached Mount Guyot, which was covered in heavy snow.

Without snowshoes, the hiker couldn’t safely continue and worse, snow had buried the trail and he quickly got lost, “floundering in waist-deep snow,” according to rescuers.

Realizing his life was in danger, he set up a shelter and pulled out his phone, which was nearly dead, and sent a text to 911 at about 8:45 a.m., rescuers said.

Officials didn’t say how he sent the text without cell service. However, some recent smartphone models are able to send messages via satellite.

“As Conservation Officers and volunteers from Pemi Valley Search and Rescue Team responded to the area, a call was made to the NH Army National Guard to see if they would be able to transport rescuers closer to the area or locate the hiker and fly him off the mountain. Unfortunately weather at the time would not allow for a flight into the White Mountains,” officials said.

A group of four — two conservation officers and two search-and-rescue volunteers — set out from Gale River Road, near the small town of Bethlehem, and up to a “remote” section of the Pemi wilderness, rescuers said. It was a 6.5-mile hike through harsh conditions to where rescuers believed the hiker would be, somewhere off the Twinway Trail.

At 5:20 p.m., the group found the lost hiker, uninjured and with his gear packed and ready to go, officials said. Weather was still too dangerous for a helicopter to pick up the team, so they hiked back down to Gale River Road, arriving at about 10 p.m.

Officials thanked the Pemi Valley Search and Rescue Team for its help in bringing the hiker to safety, and added that anyone considering hiking at high elevations in the region should bring snowshoes.

Bethlehem is a roughly 80-mile drive north from Concord.

This story was originally published March 23, 2025 at 2:41 PM with the headline "Last-second text saves lost hiker ‘floundering in waist-deep snow,’ NH rescuers say."