At 6,288 feet, Mount Washington in New Hampshire is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States. A group of Bloomsburg University students, staff and community members climbed it this weekend.
"My roommate's up there. A good friend of mine that I've known for a while. Before he left I told him to be safe and have fun," Adam Engel said.
The group of 15 hikers from Quest, an outdoors group at Bloomsburg University, climbed Mount Washington. On the way down, four hikers got separated from the group. For a few hours, they had to endure 95 mile per hour wind gusts and frigid temperatures.
"It's scary knowing that our friends were up there and had that happen to them," Evan Makuvek said.
According to authorities in New Hampshire, the four group members dug into the snow for shelter and activated a GPS messenger device to call for help. One group member was taken to the hospital for frostbite but no one else was hurt. The hikers' friends say they are grateful.
"Everyone that I know in the group are great people, great outdoors people. They know how to react to situations like that," Makuvek said.
"I'm super glad they're alright. It's definitely a scary situation. Mount Washington is definitely a difficult mountain to try to hike up," Tony Dibiase said.
Quest is a leadership development group here at Bloomsburg University. The group takes yearly trips to Mount Washington.
"They usually take two trips every January," Dibiase said.
"Anytime you're doing something like that I guess you never know what can happen. That's kind of what is the draw for these people, they are adventure seekers," Engel said.
The executive director of Quest says all of the hikers are on their way back to Bloomsburg and everyone is safe.