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6) Cascade Saddle, New Zealand (6 of 14)
6) Cascade Saddle, New Zealand (6 of 14)
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The Cascade Saddle in New Zealand is stretched over 11 miles and it takes hikers two days to complete the trip as they have to pass through the alpine meadows and beech forest. In the past few years, almost 12 people have lost their lives as the area gets wet and slippery.
New Hampshire’s Mt Washington may not look like a killer at less than 7000 feet but more than 150 hikers have died on the trail to it’s summit over the last 100 years. Mt. Washington happens to be at the confluence of several weather systems and has some of the most violent winds on the planet. For many years, from 1933 to sometime around 2000, it held the record for the worlds highest recorded wind speed: 233 MPH at the summit. What has killed so many hikers are not falls, instead, most have died from hypothermia. Weather there can change with stunning rapidness. Half way up the mountain, the temperature can drop 40 degrees, accompanied with sleet, snow and cold fog, reducing visibility to zero.
Lightly dressed hikers unprepared for such conditions can quickly loose conciseness and freeze to death.
It has happened way to often.