TIMES SQUARE — A Manhattan adventurer who went missing during a weekend mountain trek in New Hampshire was found dead Monday of apparent exposure to the sub-zero temperatures, according to reports.
Kate Matrosova, 32, began hiking the Presidential Range in White Mountain National Forest about 5 a.m. Sunday, according to reports. She activated a distress beacon about 3:30 p.m. that afternoon, launching a wide-ranging search, New Hampshire TV station WMUR9 reported.
Rescue crews scoured the mountain but weren't able to find Matrosova, who worked at BNP Paribas and lived in Manhattan, because of the harsh conditions and problems with the beacon's information, the station reported.
"Unfortunately, a lot of the coordinates that we received over the night are all over the place within a mile circumference," Lt. Jim Goss of the state's Fish and Game department told WMUR9.
"I think the temperature (Sunday) night was 30 below, and there were winds of over 100 miles per hour on the summit," Goss added.
Crews found Matrosova Monday about 2 p.m. between Mt. Madison and Mt. Adams, according to reports. Officials told WMUR9 that she died of exposure to the freezing temperatures.
Matrosova's Facebook profile shows that she led an active life with a number of pictures of her hiking and doing other outdoor activities.
She trained regularly, even at the Times Square apartment building where she lived, staff there said.
"Her and her husband used to put on big backpacks and run up the stairs to the penthouse and then down. The penthouse is on the 42nd floor. She was very fit," said a doorman at the building, Michael Tagliava.
Matrosova's husband, who had dropped her off at the mountain, sent an email to Tagliava and the building's other doormen about her death, the doorman said.
"It's very sad. She was very kind, always in a good mood, always happy," Tagliava said.
