On Saturday, we were planning a lengthy hike that would have included Mt. Washington, Boott Spur, Mt. Isolation, Mt. Davis, Stairs Mt, Mt. Crawford and the entire Davis Path. Our goal was camp overnight with all of the gear we're going to Mt. Whitney with, however the torrential rain had other ideas, and our plan had to change. We reached the summit of Mt. Washington in heavy wind and rain with 40+lb packs, where we decided it was not a good idea we consider going any further, especially staying overnight anywhere, because it would be down-right miserable. (Crystal Cascade pictured above)
We got a late start and performed the car spot, just in case we did decide to continue on, because when we left the house were just going to go as planned and make a decision. We started up the Tuckerman Ravine trail at 10am. For me, this trail is old school now, but my brother got a good first taste of its relentless gradual ascent. Rain came and tapered along this section. It got hot and the rain was not steady at the moment, so we went down to T-Shirts for a solid mile before needing to throw the jackets back on.
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| Pinkham Notch Avalanche Bulletin |
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| Looking at the waterfall |
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| Ready for my 9th summit of Mt. Washington |
We took a few minute break at the junction of Lion Head Trail, and a group of Canadien teens asked, "Are you familiar with Washington de summit?" I said, "yes," and then they asked which way they should go. I told him that our decision was to go Lion's Head. We were going to go Tuckerman Ravine Trail (since it opened) but thought the safer option would be Lion's Head in these slippery conditions. I told them I would be extremely concerned if they did not have rain gear, gloves, or face protection, and that someone already coming down, said it was starting to snow. My brother and I, taking our break, were starting to get real cold fast not moving, and these people had jeans, ponchos, some no packs, some no gloves or hat, and some wore cotton sweatshirts. As me and Bill bundled up, one put on his bandana and sunglasses as face protection, and they started ahead of us on the Lion's Head Trail! We would pass them just at treeline, and eventually they faded off - hopefully down before they became the next victims.
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| Unprepared hikers |
After breaking tree-line, the wind picked up and was consistent with gusts. The rain was fairly consistent throughout the ascent, with short lulls of heavy downpours. The wind gusts would make the rain slap at our rain gear and face. It was tough to make out the outline of Lion's Head with low visibility, but knew when we were there. I was telling Bill how massive the Tuckerman Ravine would look from here, but on this day, it would feel only like we were walking on a foggy path. It felt the same on New Year's Eve in snow - almost no sense of the elevation you're at.
We made it to the steeps just before reaching the road. Here, the conditions were just a bit more gusty and also more cold with some pellets mixing in. At this point, it started to get much colder, and Bill's fingers were drenched in his gloves, mostly from touching the ground and rocks. It was a real moment as they started to get slightly numb. We had less than about .2 mi to go up the slippery rockpile. We were in the last .4 mi section to the top. I pushed him, having him keep his hands near his stomach out of the wind, with his back to it, as much as possible to prevent the 17 degree wind chill from getting to his hands. We would be able to go into the summit building, we had to get there.
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| Steep section approaching the summit |
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| Tuckerman Ravine and the auto road meet near the summit |
There was no one outside at the top and no one else standing on the summit. I think the numbness in Bill's hands went away for a few brief moments, from the excitement of being just a few steps away from his first direct ascent of Mt. Washington, he scooted up to the top, and then hung onto the sign. I quickly followed, we congratulated each other on the achievement, and quickly went inside to warm up.
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| Fighting the winds and rain in the face and tingling hands to make it |
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| Bill's first direct ascent of Mt. Washington - a memorable one |
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| My 9th time on Mt. Washington - this time in pouring rain |
The auto road was closed and nothing was really open at the top except the doors to the summit building. Inside, we found a couple of other small groups of hikers, and about a dozen others. The reason I say that is, they too, had sweat pants and seriously lacking gear and had climbed to the summit. They were also benefiting from the summit building's cache of warm blankets, and also a comfortable ride down the auto road, which we declined, of course. How can people come out to Mt. Washington on a day like this with no gear? Everyone there was able to purchase a cup of coffee for two bucks, so that was nice with an energy bar, some crackers, and butterfingers as we tried to dry our gloves and hats as much as possible. We hung out at the summit for at least an hour, checked in with family with our plans, and all was good.
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| Geared up for the descent |
The climb down was pretty tough. As we left the summit, the wind was howling with heavy gusts and heavier rain. When we got down the steep section below the summit, the winds died, except the rain got heavier. At this point, it no longer bothered us. We were warmed up, and the soaked gloves with less wind, and low temperature, no longer made for any issues. We had layered real good at the summit too, so we were all set, and have to say we thoroughly enjoyed our descent. This is going down as the wettest hike yet and probably ever.
Although we didn't get to camp overnight on this hike, we spent all last weekend using the tent and our cooking gear. We put it up and took it down twice, and cooked 3 times each day, so that was a science last weekend. Although we didn't get to do our 22 mile hike, we feel it was sufficient enough for preparing for our goal, that we got a hard-fought 8.6 mile battle with 40lb packs up 4300 feet of elevation gain, which is more than the gain we'll carry the weight for. Now we just need to do a shorter hike with lighter packs for our summit day practice and to keep the juices flowing. From the top of the Northeast to the top of the lower 48, we're ready to go!
Trails: Tuckerman Ravine Trail, Lion Head Trail
Distance: 8.4 miles
Elevation Gain: 4,300 ft
Book Time: 8hr 30min
