Led a hike to North Fork Mountain in WV on Monday. 6 hikers, prerequisite was for enough hike experience to handle weather changes and carrying additional water as it is a dry mountain. We each had 6l h2o for 13 lbs extra weight.

Started snowing buckets at the trailhead, continued for 8 miles. We were wet and chilled, nothing major. One hiker started complaining of "not feeling well" and laid down on icy ground in her wet clothes for a break. Needless to say, the night went downhill from there.

Hypothermia stinks! She was confused and had to be force fed warm liquids. Stabilized her for the night (2 of us are nurses), had to extricate her from mountain next day, trashing the hike for 3 of us!

Just a warning about the early wintry weather this time of year: have a back up plan and prepare for the worst!