Daylight was slipping away and the cold was deepening on New Hampshire’s Mount Washington as 28-year-old Monoswita Saha drifted in and out of consciousness. Her four fellow hikers began to worry that waiting for help, as instructed by a 911 operator, would put all of them in danger.
And so they bundled Saha in a sleeping bag, tied it with ropes and dragged her, slowly and carefully, 2 miles through the snow to meet a rescue crew at the bottom of the trail.
She not only survived but was out of the hospital within a matter of hours.
“They knew if they stopped moving, they would probably die,” said Lt. Wayne Saunders of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department.
The cause of Saha’s medical emergency was unclear, but Saunders said the extreme cold and other elements were probably factors, especially considering the woman’s small build.
“I’d say they were pushing it,” Saunders said of their decision to hike in the forbidding conditions on the 6,289-foot mountain.
The group of five friends from Connecticut, a mix of experienced and occasional hikers, had set out around 9 a.m. Saturday, climbing 3 miles to a peak without seeing another person. They spent only a few minutes at the peak, where it was so cold any exposed skin was in danger.
Six hours into their trek, as they were descending in the afternoon, Saha began having trouble standing.
Using a cellphone, one of the friends dialed 911, and the operator advised them to stay put and keep the woman level. But the temperature on the mountain was about 5 degrees below zero, with gusty winds making it feel far colder.
Their call was then patched through to Saunders, who urged them not to wait for help. The group started down the trail again, with two friends pulling the sleeping bag with Saha inside. They trudged through snow up to their waists in places, checking whether she was conscious and responding.
