It was the third week of June, the calendar said summer, and yet rescuers spent the early hours of Saturday morning carrying an unresponsive, severely hypothermic 19-year-old down the side of Mount Lafayette in the dark. The episode, detailed by New Hampshire Public Radio and New Hampshire Fish and Game, is the kind of story that locals in the North Country have heard many times before, and it lands as a blunt reminder that the White Mountains do not follow the lowland calendar. Cold, wet, wind-exposed conditions can turn life-threatening on the high summits in any month of the year.
Over the course of a single night, search and rescue teams responded to two separate groups of hikers on the mountain, both suffering from hypothermia. One of those rescues nearly ended in tragedy, and a volunteer rescuer was seriously hurt in the effort to help.
What happened on the mountain
The first call sent two crew members from the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Greenleaf Hut climbing up the mountain late Friday night. They located the stranded group just below the summit of Mount Lafayette, which stands at 5,260 feet, high enough to sit in a different and far harsher weather world than the trailhead far below.
Among that first group was Dmytro Grechko, 19, of New Jersey. According to New Hampshire Fish and Game, Grechko was unresponsive and suffering from severe hypothermia brought on by the cold and wet conditions. The hut crew members provided warm clothing and emergency shelter, then called in the Pemigewasset Valley and Lakes Region search and rescue teams to bring Grechko and another hypothermic hiker down the mountain.
The timeline shows just how long and grueling these rescues can be. Rescuers reached Grechko shortly after 1 a.m. He was carried down to the AMC’s Greenleaf Hut by 2:55 a.m. While sheltering at the hut, he began to improve and regained consciousness. He was then assisted down the Old Bridle Path to the trailhead, finally reaching it at 7:55 a.m., before being taken to Littleton Regional Hospital for further medical evaluation. From the first push up the mountain to the trailhead, the operation stretched across the entire night.
As if one emergency were not enough, a second group of hikers, also experiencing hypothermic conditions, made a separate emergency call while rescuers were still working to save the first group. That second group was roughly a mile from the trailhead and was assisted back to the start of the trail in Franconia Notch.
Rescue work is dangerous for the rescuers too. One of the volunteers helping the first group suffered a serious injury during the operation and had to be helped back to the trailhead. That detail underscores a reality that often goes unspoken: every time an unprepared hiker needs saving, other people willingly put their own bodies on the line in difficult terrain and brutal conditions to get them out.
Why summer does not mean safety in the Whites
It is tempting to assume hypothermia is a winter problem. The White Mountains say otherwise. At higher elevations, temperatures can be dramatically colder than in the valleys, and wind chips away at body heat with startling speed. Add rain, fog, and a stiff wind, and a hiker who is wet and underdressed can slide toward hypothermia even when the thermometer reads well above freezing. Mount Washington, not far from Lafayette, is famous for some of the worst weather in the world, and the Franconia Range shares the same exposure to fast-moving, violent shifts in conditions.
The hikers in the first group reportedly faced cold, wet, rainy conditions with no visibility, no lights, and no warm clothing, a combination that turns an ordinary outing into a survival situation. Once the sun drops and the temperature falls, a group without headlamps cannot safely descend, and a group without insulating layers cannot stay warm enough to wait out the night. Those two gaps, light and warmth, are exactly what separates a manageable mistake from a 1 a.m. carry-out.
New Hampshire Fish and Game used the rescues to repeat advice the agency offers constantly: be prepared for hiking in the White Mountains year-round, check the forecast for the higher summits specifically, and pack adequate clothing and gear. The forecast at the base of a trail is not the forecast at 5,000 feet, and treating the two as the same is one of the most common and most dangerous errors hikers make.
A familiar warning the region keeps repeating
This weekend’s rescues echo a steady drumbeat of safety messaging from state officials and outdoor groups. New Hampshire Fish and Game has long urged hikers to carry the essentials and to know their limits, themes the agency stressed again in its Memorial Day hiking safety guidance and Hike Safe Card reminders. The Hike Safe Card, in particular, helps fund the search and rescue operations that the cardholders may one day need, and it can shield a prepared hiker from rescue costs in many situations.
The episode also lands amid a broader conversation about the White Mountains as both a treasured resource and a busy, sometimes hazardous destination. Trail management decisions, like the ongoing Lincoln Woods Trail closure for riverbank repairs, shape where and how people venture into the backcountry. And the surge of visitors fuels a significant outdoor recreation economy across New Hampshire, one that depends on people enjoying the mountains and coming home safely.
For anyone planning to head up Lafayette, Franconia Ridge, or any of the high peaks this summer, the practical lessons from this weekend are straightforward. Carry a headlamp and spare batteries even on a day hike, because plans change and daylight does not wait. Pack warm, non-cotton layers and a waterproof shell regardless of the valley temperature. Check the higher-summits forecast, not just the town forecast. Turn around when conditions deteriorate, because the summit will still be there another day. And recognize that the people who come to the rescue are volunteers and officers risking real injury, as one of them did this weekend, to bring strangers home.
For related coverage, see our reporting on High Winds and Heavy Rain Knock Out Power for 12,000 NH Customers Saturday.
For related coverage, see our reporting on What Hikers Need to Know Before Heading to the Pemi.
