A solo hiker attempting to watch the sunrise from a popular New Hampshire hiking spot called mountain rescue reporting that "his limbs were frozen" and he was unable to continue. The incident prompted a seven-hour response from multiple units.
New Hampshire Fish and Game reports that it received the call from a hiker in distress at 8:15 a.m. on Thursday, December 19. The hiker, 28-year-old Patrick Bittman of Portland, Maine, had set off to hike Mount Lafayette the previous evening. Near the summit of Little Haystack, he encountered "deep blowing snow" and decided to retreat. However, he could not find the trail due to snow and ended up in the Dry Brook drainage, about 1,000 feet off the trail at 4,300 feet in elevation.
