February 12, 2026, the rangers were notified around 3 in the afternoon of a hiker and their dog in distress on Marcy. The initial reports are not clear what has happened, other than she slipped off trail near the peak and was hypothermic. The skies were cloudy and it was windy, but they did search by air, and found nothing, while others came in via roads and trails. Rangers were dropped off at the Marcy Dam outpost and reached the woman about 9:50 PM, finding her dead, but her dog alive. They came back up the next morning to recover the body in daylight.1,2 This is the third solo hiker death in winter conditions in the last 4 years (Leo DuFour died on the way back from Allen in November 2024, Thomas Howard died on the Trap Dike in March 2022). At the time I'm publishing this, there has yet to be the weekly ranger report which is usually published Tuesday or Wednesday was published on Friday and had no further details.
First and foremost, condolences go out to all of the hiker's friends and family, and may they find peace and comfort in this time of tragedy.
While we wait for further details to come out, there are some things that we can take away from what we do know and can speculate about. I have talked to someone that was out the same day, it was blustery and cloudy. I was out on Algonquin, Iroqouis, and Wright a couple days later with heavy cloud cover, so I have some first hand experience in what the conditions likely were like in the region on the bald peaks, although not the peak she was on. The initial report is suggesting that she was above tree line and slipped, loosing her way. The bald peaks were covered in a good sheet of ice, so going up or down them was slippery at points. There were times, mostly going downhill, where I had trouble getting reliable traction in my snowshoes. I could easily see someone sliding downhill more than they wanted to, in a direction they didn't intend and get stuck off trail with no easy way back to where they should be. This can happen to anyone, and there was an experienced hiker a couple years ago that did that on South Dix in bad weather that had to be rescued.
The reports that have come out so far cite thick cloud cover causing the aerial response to fail to find the woman. This could mean that visibility on the ground was reduced. It is not unheard of for there to be white outs on the bald peaks. If the clouds were that low and thick, it may be that she couldn't see more than a hundred feet or so ahead of you. I had that experience on Saturday, which does make seeing the cairns difficult. There were also reported winds that were not favorable for aerial rescue. If it was windy on the mountain, track can disappear in minutes. Disorientation is very easy to happen, even to experienced hikers. On my second summit of Algonquin heading back towards Loj on Saturday, I was a hundred feet or so behind the group, they went over the peak, and as I reached the peak, the came back to me. They were all experienced. The person in the lead was very experienced and I would trust them with my life on any hike. They got turned around and thankfully I had just come up and not turned around, so we could correct course.
The autopsy is reporting the cause of death to be hypothermia. The initial reports mentioned hypothermia, and it would explain why the rangers tried to go in via the helicopter even though they normally wouldn't in those conditions. Hypothermia can set in quickly, and if confusion is showing itself, it can progress very fast needing an emergent response.
In the air, hypothermia can develop in as little as five minutes in temperatures of minus -50°F/-45.5°C in people who are not dressed properly and have exposed skin. At -30°F/-34.4°C, hypothermia can occur in about 10 minutes. Death can occur in under an hour in extremely cold conditions. 3
The observed high in Saranac Lake on Thursday was 20°F, the low was -8°F. If we apply the standard 5°F per 1000 feet of elevation, the likely temps on top of Marcy ranged from a high of 0°F to a low of -28°F, before wind. Hypothermia was not likely to set in over minutes, but could easily have set in over an hour or two. The horrible thing about hypothermia is that relatively early, as you approach 90°F core body temperature, you start getting confused, and your mental abilities decline. Decision making suffers, and if you're alone, or its not recognized by someone else, it can quickly lead to death.
The question is why did she get to that point? Was it a matter of she got wet (sweat) and cooled off more than she thought? Was it a matter of not having enough insulation layers, or a shell for the conditions she faced? Was it a matter of nutrition where she bonked and got confused that lead to her going into hypothermia? We probably will never truly know what it was.
What can we learn from this?
Well first, hiking solo in winter can be deadly. We knew this already, and this is not the first life we lost where solo hiking was a contributing factor, and unfortunately probably won't be the last. You can only think that if there were others in her party, they could have worked together to get back on trail. As they were going hypothermic, a second person there could have seen the signs and turned them around and started trying to treat them. Solo hiking by itself is not significantly more dangerous than hiking in groups, but the margin of error you have is much thinner, and what would be a laughable story in retrospect when hiking with a few other people can be deadly when solo. In winter that margin is even thinner to the point that you almost have to be perfect in what you do at all times.
How can we prevent hypothermia? That's not an easy thing to describe because everyone is different in how they hike. While I may be comfortable and on the verge of sweating in my base layer, someone else could be cold and on the verge of shivering with their insulation layer and a puffy jacket on. We all are different in how we hike and handle the cold. There are a few guidelines though. When hiking in the winter, you want to stay dry. That means if you find yourself starting to sweat, you need to remove layers. It could be a matter of loosing the hat or balaclava, your mittens (but not the glove liners) and hand warmers, opening vents on your pants or jacket, removing the fleece, or something different. When you are hiking you want to be on the slightly cool side of things. If you're cold though, you should do put something on or close a vent. What you also don't want to do though is exposed excess skin to low windchill temperatures, that will only promote frostbite. When you stop, if you're stopping for more than a minute or two, put a layer on to keep warm.
Movement is one of the best ways outside of layering to keep warm. Your legs are huge muscles and they will provide a lot of heat to your body. I have had many times where I stopped for a few minutes and started to get cold, mostly in my fingers and toes. After I start hiking again, usually within a few minutes, my fingers and toes are back to normal warmth. To keep moving though, you need to eat and drink. We're horrible about keeping hydrated in winter, especially if we're ones that typically hike with bladders. Hydration and high energy foods are necessary to produce the heat to keep warm.
"Bonking", or "hitting the wall" is another common issue that can look like moderate hypothermia. This is typically a nutrition issue. You have spent the whole day eating only one kind of food, say sugary foods since so much of our trail mixes are heavy on sugar. You body also needs salts, fats, and proteins. Sugar only go so far. For the longer and more challenging hikes, you want to vary up what foods you are eating. I have seen this happen to other hikers in my party and didn't recognize what it was until we reached the car and talked about it. I experienced it myself and caught it before it became a problem. It sucks. If not caught though, the confusion can send you in bad directions, and if you're by yourself, you could get yourself in trouble and end up going hypothermic and ultimately die.
Another lesson we can take away is that we need to be prepared to spend hours waiting for the rangers. If they could have spotted her and gotten to her by air, they would have been there in minutes, maybe hours and even that may have been too late. That was not the case here. It took them 7 hours from call to finding her. They were able to cut 2 miles off the distance by starting at Marcy Dam, which they were either lowered to via the helicopter, or came in by motorized vehicles. That is still 5 miles to organize, get to the trailhead, and hike in to the peak with all the gear that they carry. We are told that if something happens, expect 2 hours per mile to get to you from the nearest trailhead. The rangers did better than that, but it still wasn't quick enough.
At minimum everyone needs to carry the 10 essentials. They may have had a version of them, but it could be their confusion from hypothermia, they didn't have what they needed, or didn't know how to use what they carried. In winter, the 10 essentials do get bulkier than what you carry in summer, but you can't really skimp. In this case, that emergency shelter, food, water, and extra layers are what were most needed. I have seen a lot of people out there that don't carry these things. At the very least, if you can wrap yourself up in an emergency blanket, or an emergency bivy, you will significantly reduce your heat loss, and help prevent worsening hypothermia. This alone won't save you though, but it will help. If you're exposed and it's windy it becomes a bit more difficult, but it's something you need to be able to do. They weigh next to nothing and can be the difference. Putting on dry layers or extra layers to bulk up while you're waiting and not generating as much heat, eating food so that you can continue to produce heat, water so you don't dehydrate.... all of that is part of the 10 essentials and why we need to carry that extra weight, especially in the winter. If there was a stove where they could have heated up water to drink, that would have been excellent, but its surprising how many people don't carry a stove and pot in the winter, or they use a butane/isobutane stove and it's too cold for the fuel to work.
Ultimately this is a tragedy that likely could have been prevented by not hiking alone. Our rangers are some of the best in the world, and they will go above and beyond to help everyone in need. They are not super-humans. They can only do so much, and if the weather isn't cooperating, that helicopter rescue is not going to happen... most of the time it doesn't happen. I tip my hat and give voluminous thanks to all the rangers involved, as I'm sure that they did all that they could have done. I know from my EMS experience, things like this will hit them in different ways, and I hope they get the help and support they need to process this unfortunate incident.
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