The New Hampshire Fish and Game said it is considering charging two hikers for their rescue in the White Mountains Saturday. One of them said he is OK with that.

“My answer was whatever you guys have to do,” said Bart Zienkiewicz, 34, of Naugatuck, Connecticut. “If I see a fine or a bill or whatever you need to call it, I’m happy to be able to pay that bill versus not paying it, of course, if things had gotten really bad and they couldn’t find us.”

Zienkiewicz had never before hiked in the winter when he and a friend, Louis Scotti, embarked on a nine-mile hike along the Franconia Ridge early Saturday morning. They reached the summit but couldn’t find their way down because blizzard-like conditions had obscured the trail.

Zienkiewicz said he and Scotti, 33, of Cranston, Rhode Island, realized they were unprepared when they strayed into the woods and couldn’t find their way. They hadn’t packed dry clothes or socks and had only water and protein bars.

“It was kind of a slow realization that, you know, don’t just think that everything’s going to work out,” Zienkiewicz said from his home Sunday. “There is a chance that we may have to not only stay a few hours, maybe overnight, maybe not get out of here.”

Two Fish and Game conservation officers reached the pair around 4:30 p.m. and escorted them to the trail head. Neither had Fish and Game’s $25 Hike Safe card, which would absolve them of rescue costs. It also comes with recommendations for safe hiking.

Scotti could not be reached for comment Sunday. Zienkiewicz said he was so grateful to Fish and Game that he’ll make a donation if he doesn’t get a bill.

“I have my life to thank for doing this,” he said.

Fish and Game is urging people to prepare for any weather conditions, which can change quickly in the White Mountains.

CONCORD, NH — Wind gusts and frigid temperatures are expected across New Hampshire this week after Sunday’s snowstorm moves out of the region on Monday morning.

On Monday, forecasters at the National Weather Service are calling for partly sunny skies in the morning with temperatures in the lower 20s. However, winds of up to 10 to 15 mph and gusts as high as 25 mph will make it feel as if it is as low as zero degrees outside. Overnight lows will be in the lower single digits.

Similar weather is expected on Tuesday, with sunny skies, highs in the teens, and wind gusts of up to 20 mph. Overnight lows will drop into the negative — as low as -2 degrees.

Wednesday is expected to be a carbon copy of Tuesday weatherwise.

Partly sunny skies are expected on Thursday, with highs in the 20s and overnight lows in the lower single digits.

Forecasters are calling for sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 20s to lower 30s on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

State Issues Warning

On Sunday afternoon, the New Hampshire Department of Safety Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (HSEM) urged residents and visitors to take action and prepare for extreme cold starting Monday night.

The National Weather Service (NWS) in Gray, Maine, says arctic air will be the coldest to hit the region since January 2022. During overnight hours from Monday until Thursday, temperatures could feel like double digits below zero. During this time, residents and visitors should use caution during outdoor activities.

“As extreme cold temperatures move into our state tomorrow, I urge Granite Staters to stay inside whenever possible and take steps to keep themselves, their families, and their pets safe and warm,” Gov. Kelly Ayotte said. “Thank you to all of our emergency management personnel, first responders, and road crews who are working around-the-clock to keep our state safe.”

Frostbite is possible within 15 minutes when wind chill values are near minus 25 degrees Fahrenheit. At minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit, hypothermia can occur in about 10 minutes.

“Stay safe by limiting your time outdoors during the extreme cold,” HSEM Director Robert Buxton said. “If you have to travel, make sure your vehicle’s emergency kit is stocked. Check on your neighbors and those who may be more vulnerable to the cold.”

Individuals and families in need of temporary shelter to keep warm are encouraged to contact 211 to locate the closest site that is open and available to them.

Local communities are encouraged to share temporary shelter and warming locations with state officials through WebEOC so the most up-to-date local information may be provided to 2-1-1 callers.

Buxton makes the following safety recommendations:

• Stay informed by signing up for NH Alerts and monitoring National Weather Service radio or broadcast weather reports.
• Stay indoors and limit travel as much as possible. If travel is necessary, prepare a winter emergency kit with warm clothes, boots, blankets, flashlights, extra batteries, food and water.
• Wear several layers of loose-fitting clothing when outdoors, including hat, scarf and gloves.
• If clothing becomes wet, remove it immediately.
• Protect people at high-risk by providing warm clothes and blankets and return indoors when shivering.
• Do not use a gas range or oven as an alternate source of heat.
• Plug space heaters directly into an outlet, not a power strip.

Learn more about safety during extremely cold temperatures at ReadyNH.gov.

The most up-to-date weather is available on every Patch.com site in the United States. This includes the 14 New Hampshire Patch news and community websites for Amherst, Bedford, Concord, Exeter, Hampton, Londonderry, Manchester, Merrimack, Milford, Nashua, North Hampton, Portsmouth, Salem, Windham, and Across NH. Patch posts local weather reports for New Hampshire every Sunday and Wednesday and publishes alerts as needed.

Do you have a news tip? Please email it to tony.schinella@patch.com. View videos on Tony Schinella’s YouTube.com channel or Rumble.com channel. Follow the NH politics Twitter account @NHPatchPolitics for all our campaign coverage.

Robert Eggers got his first inspiration for the current hit movie “Nosferatu” as a child attending Mast Way Elementary School in Lee, New Hampshire.

The school is where Eggers, now 41, first saw an image of Max Schrek as Count Orlok from F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent film “Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror” on a book cover. This sparked his love of the horror genre.

“I thought it was like the coolest thing ever. With the help of my mom, and this is before the time of Amazon and YouTube, we went to the Fox Run Mall, which had the closest video store to Lee, and we had to order a VHS, which came in the mail about a month later,” Eggers said. “And that VHS was really inspiring.”

Eggers, writer and director of “Nosferatu,” the film starring Bill Skarsgard and Lily-Rose Depp has been 10 years in the making. There were three previous attempts to film and produce it before they pulled it off, he said.

Filming began in 2015 but was called off for a number of reasons, Eggers said. He had just finished post-production of “The Northman,” and needed a break. He said he’s glad “Nosferatu” came out when it did, released on Christmas Day in U.S. theaters last month, as he’s evolved over the years as a filmmaker and person.

“(It’s) become a collective vision” over the years, he said, and “we’ve done a better job of articulating what’s in our imagination and getting in onto the screen.”

Eggers attributes success to Seacoast

Eggers attributes much of his success as a filmmaker to mentors dung his time growing up in New Hampshire’s Seacoast region. Eggers attended Oyster River schools in Durham, naturally stepping into acting as his mom, Kelly, a dancer and actress, started the Oyster River Players theater company.

During his senior year of high school, Eggers co-directed a play version of “Nosferatu” with his friend, Ashley Kelley Tata, who is now a theater and opera director in New York. He had done some acting at the old Edwin Booth Theater in Dover and had invited founder Edward Langlois to the high school production. After Langlois had seen the play, he invited them to create a more professional version of “Nosferatu” at the Edwin Booth Theater.

“(It) was very thrilling, and it cemented the fact that I wanted to be a director, and also made ‘Nosferatu’ permanently, like a big part of who I am. New Hampshire roots are large for me, for sure,” said Eggers.

Eggers also credits inspiration he received from the late Hyman Bloom, a painter from Nashua. He said as of this week he had put one of Bloom’s drawings in his “look book” for a future film project. He did not specify what the film is, but Eggers said he would like to expand beyond the horror genre. He noted “The Northman” was not a horror movie, but to tell complex, personal stories, he has often used the horror genre.

“Nosferatu” in 2024 compared to 1922

Eggers’ version of “Nosferatu” is similar to the overall plot of the original 1922 Nosferatu, but with some minor tweaks, he said. Set in the 1830s, the plot follows newlywed couple Ellen and Thomas Hutter, Thomas, played by Nicholas Hoult, and Ellen played by Depp, as Thomas journeys to the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania by request of his employer to sell a new client real estate. The new client is ominous Count Orlok, played by Skarsgård, who traps Thomas in his castle and proceeds to suck his blood.

A tweak from the original while preserving the history of the film but making it more visually appealing with modern cinematography is the journey of the ship bringing the plague to Wisburg, Germany, where the film is set. The original screenplay by Henrik Galeen, depicts a “dead schooner” slowly and creepily coming into Wisburg, said Eggers. “But when I read Henrik Galeen’s screenplay, he envisioned a very chaotic storm that would bring the ship into town in a more, climactic, operatic way. Because of modern technologies and budgets, we were able to do that. It was cool to actualize the screenwriter’s original intent.”

An obvious change is Eggers’ “Nosferatu” has dialogue, while F.W. Murnau’s original version was a silent film. Count Orlok is disguised to be a Transylvanian nobleman, and instead of speaking Hungarian, he speaks Dacian, “a very ancient language of the region,” said Eggers. The Dacians were ancestors of the ethnic Romanians, said Eggers, and since Orlok is casting spells and “studying ancient magic,” it was only fitting that he spoke an ancient language, Eggers said.

Referring to how the movie ends, Eggers said, “I think that’s for each and every audience member to decide for themselves. But was it a sacrifice? You know, yes, but is there also some fulfillment there? As dark and twisted as it may be, like yes. Is it also revenge? I think there’s intended to be a lot going on. So, whatever speaks to you works for me.”

Eggers previously wrote and directed “The Lighthouse” with his brother Max, which was nominated for an Oscar in for the Best Achievement in Cinematography in the 92nd Academy Awards 2020. Released in 2015, Eggers also directed and wrote the horror film “The Witch: A New-England Folktale.” Oscar nominations this year will be announced Jan. 23.

Previous reporting by Jane Murphy was used in this report.