They say that Mount Washington in New Hampshire (6000 ft) is the deadliest mountain in the U.S. and one of the deadliest in the world. The problem it is always one climatic zone colder on top than at the base, it is near densely populated urban areas, New York and Boston, specifically, with a lot of warm meat yearning to be frozen. People start up it on a warm day in October with sneakers and maybe a sweater, get lost and freeze to death. Cell phones have cut down on fatalities, but the New Hampshire authories want to charge people for rescues occasioned by utter recklessness.
“...People start up it on a warm day in October with sneakers and maybe a sweater, get lost and freeze to death.”
I’ve seen people start hikes woefully unprepared. I climbed 3,000 ft to the top of Yosemite Falls (on the trail, not rock climbing) in January 1975. It was a freakish warm winter and going up to 70 F that day. I left in the early morning darkness and was fully prepared to survive a couple days if something happened. When I headed down around 11 am, the sky was cloudless, it was warm, and people were coming up in tee-shirts, shorts, sandals, no water. I couldn’t believe it. I was no mountaineer, but knew mountains are unforgiving. I’ve seen the same thing on Mt. Lassen in Northern California.
I rode the Mt. Washington Hillclimb cycling race in the 80’s. It was 75 degrees, no wind, and clear at the start. At the top it was 40 degees, windy, and 10 foot visibility.
Most dangerous SMALL mountain in America. Hundreds of deaths. Their names are posted on a board in the observatory at the summit.
When I was a Boy Scout back in the early 1970s, my troop went on a hiking/camping trip on Mount Washington - in July. We had snow. But like good Boy Scouts, we were well prepared.