The victims were part of a group of 35 students who set out to climb to the summit of Mt. Washington during a torrential rain storm. Due to thick fog, two of the hikers wandered off the trail and followed ski tracks into Raymond’s Cataract. When the group realized they were lost, they called for help on their cell phone. Four members of the party stayed behind to search while the rest of the group headed down to Pinkham. In the search, the party of four got separated. Two found the missing victims and headed down. The AMC caretaker went up the Lion Head trail to assist and search for the remaining two searchers of the group. The remaining two arrived at Pinkham Notch 30 minutes later. This incident took 3 people 1.5 hours to complete.