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Man found dead near summit of Mount Washington
Local News
An investigation into the cause of death is still underway.
A 72-year-old man from Virginia was found dead near the summit of Mount Washington, according to officials.
At about 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, a hiker found his body lying about a half mile below the summit, according to a press release from the New Hampshire Fish and Game Law Enforcement Division.
The Cog Railway offered to send a special train and crew to help Fish and Game recover the man’s body from a location on the Gulfside Trail near the junction of West Side Trail, as he was about 425 feet north of the Cog Railway tracks.
Crews hiked the body back to the train, which transported him to the Base Station. From there, they transferred the body to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Concord for an autopsy.
Officials from Fish and Game, the New Hampshire State Police, and Twin Mountain Fire Department responded to the call.
Authorities are withholding the hiker’s name pending family notification.
It appears that the man likely died due to environmental exposure, officials said, but the exact cause of death is pending autopsy results.
Authorities said they know little else about the hiker. The man was dressed in jeans, had on a dark navy blue raincoat, brown hiking boots, and a small blue backpack.
He was unprepared for the conditions on the White Mountains’ higher summits. Authorities say it is likely that he took a train ride up to the summit in the morning or early afternoon on Wednesday and then decided to try hiking down.
New Hampshire Fish and Game asks anyone who might have encountered a hiker matching his description to contact State Police Troop F at 603-843-3333 or Lt. Mark Ober at [email protected].
This isn’t the first death on the notoriously hard mountain to trek this year. In March, a skier died after falling down a ravine.
Fish and Game reminds people that the weather on the higher summits is cold, wet, and windy, which are prime conditions for hypothermia and other cold-related injuries. The department advises hikers to check the forecast on the Mount Washington Observatory before venturing out.