Search teams rescued two Massachusetts residents during an overnight operation on Mount Washington, officials said.
In a statement, the New Hampshire Fish and Game department said it received a 911 call around 6 p.m. on Sunday from hikers who had gotten lost near Jewell Trail.
Authorities learned that Kathryn McKee, 51, of Southborough, and Beata Lelacheur, 54, of Westborough, were stuck in “very deep snow” about 5,000 feet up the mountain.
GPS coordinates from 911 revealed the two were just 34 feet off the trail, officials said.
A conservation officer directed them to the trail over the phone, and over the next two hours they “fought their way through chest-deep snow and ‘spruce traps’ (holes created in the snow underneath trees) in an attempt to regain the trail,” officials said.
While the hikers ended up on the trail several times, they could not follow it for long due to “wind and blowing snow,” officials said.
After multiple attempts and calls to the Fish and Game department, they opted to huddle in the snow together and await assistance, officials said.
By 8:30 p.m., summit temperatures had plunged to 2 degrees below zero, with winds “often gusting significantly higher” than 60 miles per hour.
Volunteers from the Mountain Rescue Service group and members of the Fish and Game Department’s advanced search and rescue team were called in to reach the hikers, officials said.
“The State Park’s snow cat started up the mountain at 11:00 p.m. with nine skilled rescuers, arriving at the summit just before midnight,” officials said. “The crews ventured into whiteout conditions and snowshoed through deep, wind-blown snow toward the top end of the Jewell Trail below the summit of Mt. Clay.”
By 1:20 a.m., rescuers were approaching the last known location of the two hikers but had yet to make contact. Rescuers found the hikers a half hour later.
“Both were alive and coherent, but suffering from cold-weather injuries,” officials said.
Crew members immediately began warming the pair, a process that took an hour, officials said.
The rescuers and hikers reached the base station of the Cog Railway around 4:15 a.m., and paramedics evaluated them, officials said.
One of the hikers was taken to a hospital for further evaluation and treatment, officials said. They did not specify which hiker went to the hospital.
Both hikers were prepared for a winter hike on the mountain, officials said.
“This incident exemplifies the need to prepare for the unexpected,” officials said. “Both hikers were prepared and had winter hiking experience, but ultimately encountered unforeseen conditions. Had they not had the amount of gear that they had with them, it is unlikely that they would have survived until rescuers reached them.”
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.