A 72-year-old man from Virginia was found dead near the summit of Mount Washington, officials reported.
Around 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, another hiker discovered his body about half a mile below the summit, according to a press release from New Hampshire Fish and Game.
The Cog Railway offered a special train and crew to help recover the man’s body from the Gulfside Trail near the West Side Trail junction. The man was found about 425 feet north of the railway tracks.
Rescue crews carried the body back to the train, which then took it to the Base Station. From there, the body was sent to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Concord for an autopsy.
Officials from Fish and Game, New Hampshire State Police, and Twin Mountain Fire Department responded to the incident.
The man’s name is being withheld until his family is notified.
Officials believe the man likely died from exposure to the harsh environmental conditions, but the exact cause of death is pending autopsy results.
Authorities don’t know much more about the man. He was wearing jeans, a dark navy raincoat, brown hiking boots, and carried a small blue backpack. It seems he was unprepared for the conditions on the mountain. Authorities think he may have taken a train up to the summit on Wednesday morning or early afternoon and then tried to hike down.
New Hampshire Fish and Game is asking anyone who might have seen a hiker matching this 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 difficult-to-climb mountain this year. In March, a skier died after falling down a ravine.
Fish and Game reminds hikers that the weather on Mount Washington’s higher summits is cold, wet, and windy, which can lead to hypothermia and other cold-related injuries. They advise checking the weather forecast from the Mount Washington Observatory before hiking.