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United States24680 Posts
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Washington_(New_Hampshire)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/TUhqRJK.jpg) People climbing Mount Washington
Two friends and I are going to attempt to climb Mount Washington this upcoming weekend. If you aren't already familiar with the mountain, I suggest you read the first paragraph or so of the page I linked above.
We are giving ourselves three full days to attempt the climb, giving us a chance to pick the day with the least threatening weather. Unfortunately, the peak of the mountain is located in a very volatile location where weather can be very unpredictable and degrade without warning (in fact, the mountain is notorious for this). We will need to pack plenty of gear to prepare for unexpected circumstances.
According to what I read, even in the summer the temperature at the peak has been measured to dip into the 20s F (-7C to -1C). That was most likely during the evening, so we shouldn't need to be prepared for that. Still, I will carry enough gear to keep warm even if the temperature drops into the 40s F (4C to 10C). My outermost layers will be waterproof and breath.
Although this hike will be nothing compared to climbing Mount Everest, the principle if the same: you keep an eye on the conditions and turn back if there is a problem. People have died when hiking up this mountain because they didn't take the threat seriously enough and pushed on when they should have turned around.
The plan is to park and hit the trail before 9am, approaching the mountain from the West. Once we get above the timber line there is actually a hut where we can refill our water bottles, etc. Then it is a steep climb the rest of the way to the peak. There is a road to the top of the mountain, as well as a cog railway, so it will be a bit demoralizing when we get to the peak and there are little children and grandparents walking around... but what can you do. We will hike down a separate trail that brings us back to the parking lot (right near the lower station for the cog railway).
This hike should not require any special climbing gear, but it is still a bigger climb than anything I have done before. If anyone has any experience hiking this mountain or any others like it, please feel free to share your expertise.
I won't be bringing my good camera with me on the hike since it's big and heavy, unfortunately.
If I die, my hammer can go to the person who makes post #1718 in this blog.
 
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I think you might want to take the weather threat a bit more seriously. The weather in the valley is strange, and it gets downright crazy in Pinkham Notch. Hail is not uncommon.
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United States24680 Posts
On August 06 2013 12:22 Ghin wrote:
I think you might want to take the weather threat a bit more seriously. The weather in the valley is strange, and it gets downright crazy in Pinkham Notch. Hail is not uncommon.
I don't understand what you mean. More seriously than what? Also, take it seriously how?
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What if I spam posts to fill up #s 5 through 17? AND THEN USE THE HAMMER TO BAN ANYONE WHO COULD POSSIBLY BAN ME???
Also gl on the climb! It'll be super cool if you get to go to the top.
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16987 Posts
Oh, Mt. Washington is fun. I did Katahdin a few weeks ago in absolutely horrendous weather and scrambling gets really difficult when everything is wet and you can't see ten feet in front of you. Mt. Washington is a bit easier to climb than Katahdin is (slightly taller, but noticeably easier than the scramble up Hunt/Abol on Katahdin), but the weather can definitely get worse on Washington than Katahdin.
Some pictures of the shitty weather from my Katahdin trip:
+ Show Spoiler [The famous sign] +
+ Show Spoiler [My friend at the top...very Silent Hil…] +
EDIT: Random, any way for me to tag along on this? I have all my own gear and I'm wilderness first aid certified if anything goes wrong :o
EDIT2: You'll want to start way way before 9 AM. We left the Hunt trailhead at Katahdin at 5:30 AM (though to be fair, we were the first ones to the top by quite a large margin).
EDIT3: Peak of the Perseid meteor shower this weekend as well!
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United States24680 Posts
On August 06 2013 12:56 Empyrean wrote:Oh, Mt. Washington is fun. I did Katahdin a few weeks ago in absolutely horrendous weather and scrambling gets really difficult when everything is wet and you can't see ten feet in front of you. Mt. Washington is a bit easier to climb than Katahdin is (slightly taller, but noticeably easier than the scramble up Hunt/Abol on Katahdin), but the weather can definitely get worse on Washington than Katahdin. Some pictures of the shitty weather from my Katahdin trip: + Show Spoiler [The famous sign] ++ Show Spoiler [My friend at the top...very Silent Hil…] +EDIT: Random, any way for me to tag along on this? I have all my own gear and I'm wilderness first aid certified if anything goes wrong :o I sent you a pm. Man, those pics make me wonder why you guys bothered to climb, haha. It's no fun without some visibility.
EDIT2: You'll want to start way way before 9 AM. We left the Hunt trailhead at Katahdin at 5:30 AM (though to be fair, we were the first ones to the top by quite a large margin). According to http://www.mountwashington.org/about/visitor/summer_visits/hiking.php "A very rough estimate of time for the trip –assuming an experienced hiker in good physical condition with cooperative weather – is 4 to 5 hours up and 3 to 4 hours down."
Assuming we left AT 9am instead of before, according to that estimate it would take until 2pm to hike up (if not rushing). Assuming an hour at the peak, we would hike down from 3 to 7pm. That should work, but I'll definitely advocate for an early start, and we don't plan to really take our time. No way we will start at 5:30am though. We have to first get to the mountain from where we are staying.
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16987 Posts
Eh, it was still fun, if not a bit worrisome. We left before the ranger could post whether conditions were safe to climb that day (we were pretty sure it was going to be ok. No thunderstorms or anything on radar), which made me a bit apprehensive going up, especially since there were some pretty heavy winds and we were going through clouds. I had to stop every four steps to defog my glasses and I was legitimately worried that they'd blow off my face at times. The Silent Hill surroundings were pretty surreal though. I remember not being able to hear anything through the wind, but every once in a while it would die down and be absolutely still. Kind of haunting. And hey, being alone on a mountain is kind of cool even without the view.
The best part is that the next day was absolutely gorgeous. Clearly we chose the wrong day.
+ Show Spoiler [Went skinny dipping in a lake. At 11 AM.] +
In any case, didn't realize you wouldn't be camping at the trailhead. Lincoln, NH is quite a bit away, despite how close it appears on a map. Going to warn you now though, if you leave at 9, the peak is going to be a circus. As for the recommended time climbing up, you'll probably be faster. It's really meant as a suggestion for a below-average case, so if you have any experience at all it'll be easier. To give you some perspective, the Katahdin people recommend 5.5 hours up and down Hunt Trail (the easiest way up), but we made it up in 3.5 hours despite terribleass weather.
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United States24680 Posts
One of the reason why we are hiking up from the West is because it's the most convenient from where we are staying. We are allotting plenty of time for the drive over, though.
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16987 Posts
You'll be fine, don't worry c:
The weather usually cooperates too. A lot of the Mt. Washington hype is overblown (although I suppose a lot of it is true, too. Always be careful). There's plenty to do in that area too. Go swimming or canoeing on a lake! etc. Nothing beats a summer day in the New England woods 
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Hong Kong9154 Posts
thunderstorms on mountains are a serious thing. take care
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16987 Posts
Yeah, get below treeline at the first sign of a storm approaching. As an aside, they generally occur in the early/mid afternoon, which is why I'd suggest doing Mt. Washington earlier if you can, just to be safe.
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FREEAGLELAND26781 Posts
Good luck superman!
So if I were to theoretically spam a few posts...
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Good luck! Looks like fun!
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Looks like it'll be fun. Good luck! Check your local forecast.
Your bit about the children up the top reminded me of the book, A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. If you like hiking a lot I would take a read.
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Nice, looks like that will be a lot of fun.
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Wow goodluck! Sounds really fun
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United States24680 Posts
On August 06 2013 17:35 AnxiousHippo wrote:
win?
Sorry, you didn't post in the correct spot. Better luck next time.
Your odds of winning go up if you don't spam.
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Canada11350 Posts
Aw. Wasn't the Mt Washington I was thinking of. We have a local ski hill by that name, but I guess that wouldn't be as interesting to climb. Best of luck on your hike.
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i climbed mount washington a couple years ago
it was HELL
but i remember the giant building at the top sold some really delicious clam chowder, which was awesome because it was really cold once we stopped moving.
yeah, the railroad thing really pissed me off xD
there were people who rode to the top and then bought fking T-shirts that said "i climbed mount washington" on them
like wtf xD
i remember on the way down we passed an older couple climbing up, but it was getting late, so we tried to convince them to turn back. They thought they could still do it, but we told the park rangers at the bottom just in case.
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United States24680 Posts
On August 07 2013 03:39 snively wrote:
it was HELL
Could you elaborate on this? What about it made it hell? Where did you start your hike?
Thanks for sharing about your time, and you did the right thing with that couple.
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On August 07 2013 03:41 micronesia wrote:Could you elaborate on this? What about it made it hell? Where did you start your hike? Thanks for sharing about your time, and you did the right thing with that couple.
haha, it was hell only in that i wasnt exactly prepared. usually we only did short steep hikes, or flat long hikes, I hadnt really done any real mountain hiking before. Honestly, i dont remember that much, there was a parking lot and a trailhead and that's where we started, and we just kind of hiked.
One kid had sunburns on his knees from early in the trip (he was an idiot) and the blisters popped and an adult had to take him down.
Coming back down really hurt my knees
Anyway, I was only 12 or 13, so take what I say with a grain of salt -_-
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United States24680 Posts
My climb today was successful! The weather was great save for massive wind at the top. Visibility was 100 miles. My feet are killing me! I will provide more details when I have access to a computer.
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16987 Posts
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Sanya12364 Posts
I like Mount Washington for a day hike. It's a nice one Amonoosuc & Huntington Ravine are both nice easy trails (west and east approach). Huntington Ravine is a good challenge when you have good weather but dangerous when things turn bad.
Good stuff for easy low altitude hikes and certainly not the type of climbing that Mount Everest would entail. Then again nothing on North America can really come close to the high altitudes of Everest, but some approaches can be highly technical.
Congratulations!
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16987 Posts
On August 11 2013 16:21 TanGeng wrote:
I like Mount Washington for a day hike. It's a nice one Amonoosuc & Huntington Ravine are both nice easy trails (west and east approach). Huntington Ravine is a good challenge when you have good weather but dangerous when things turn bad.
Good stuff for easy low altitude hikes and certainly not the type of climbing that Mount Everest would entail. Then again nothing on North America can really come close to the high altitudes of Everest, but some approaches can be highly technical.
Congratulations!
Isn't Denali actually quite difficult and somewhat dangerous?
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I climbed the Kilimanjaro this summer 19,341 feet. It really got challenging above 13,123 foot due to oxygen issues. But it wasn't that terrible difficult. I walked from 15091.86 to 19,341 in -10 /15C and all the way down in 18 hours without sleep after having walked for 8/10 hours the past 5 days because my dad got altitude sickness. That was challenging. The biggest problem on a mountain is the lack of oxygen. At your height you shouldn't have any difficulties. To be honest, it should be easy physically if you are fit.
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16987 Posts
On August 11 2013 22:51 Recognizable wrote:
I climbed the Kilimanjaro this summer 19,341 feet. It really got challenging above 13,123 foot due to oxygen issues. But it wasn't that terrible difficult. I walked from 15091.86 to 19,341 in -10 /15C and all the way down in 18 hours without sleep after having walked for 8/10 hours the past 5 days because my dad got altitude sickness. That was challenging. The biggest problem on a mountain is the lack of oxygen. At your height you shouldn't have any difficulties. To be honest, it should be easy physically if you are fit.
Kilimanjaro is widely recognized as the easiest continental high peak, though it's definitely on a different level from anything east of the Mississippi in the US. There are even tour packages you can buy complete with porters who cook for you ._. ...the biggest challenge honestly is not ascending too fast due to altitude sickness.
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