The Most Dangerous Hikes in New Hampshire
Every peak ranked by documented search-and-rescue incidents — 548 records and 174 fatalities from 1849 to 2026, each citing a primary source.
By the numbers, Mount Washington is the most dangerous hike in New Hampshire: 163 documented search-and-rescue incidents including 114 deaths since 1849. It is followed by Mount Lafayette (24 incidents) and Mount Chocorua (23). Across the White Mountains, HikerNerd's incident database records 548 incidents and 174 fatalities from 1849 to 2026, with lost the most common primary cause.
548
Documented incidents
174
Fatalities on record
177
Years of records
89%
Modern survival rate (2015+)
Peaks Ranked by Documented Incidents
Peaks with at least 3 documented incidents. Click a peak for its full incident history.
How to read this ranking
Raw incident counts partly reflect popularity: peaks with heavy traffic generate more rescues than remote ones with objectively harder terrain. The pre-2015 record also skews toward fatalities, because deaths were documented far more consistently than rescues. Treat this as a map of where things go wrong most often — not a reason to avoid these peaks, but a reason to check conditions before hiking them.
Every record cites a primary source (NH Fish & Game releases, MWAC reports, contemporaneous news). The full dataset is published under CC BY 4.0 in the incident database.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most dangerous hike in New Hampshire?
Mount Washington has the most documented SAR incidents of any New Hampshire peak: 163 recorded incidents including 114 fatalities since 1849. Raw counts partly reflect how many people hike each peak, but Mount Washington's combination of above-treeline exposure, rapidly changing weather, and heavy traffic keeps it at the top by every measure.
How many people have died hiking in the White Mountains?
HikerNerd's incident database documents 174 fatalities among 548 recorded hiking incidents in the White Mountains region between 1849 and 2026. Every record cites a primary source such as NH Fish & Game releases or contemporaneous news coverage.
What causes most hiking rescues in New Hampshire?
Lost is the most common primary factor in the database (67 incidents), while avalanche incidents have the lowest survival rate. Most rescues involve preventable factors: late starts, underestimating terrain, and inadequate gear for above-treeline weather.
What are the odds of surviving a SAR incident in the Whites?
In the modern record (2015 and later), 89% of people involved in documented SAR incidents survived. Checking summit conditions before you go, turning around in deteriorating weather, and carrying traction and layers are the recurring differences in the outcomes.