Trip Report
Mount Washington was the target climb for this trip. Although,
Nabeel and I would be attempting several other New England high points,
it was the high point of New Hampshire that had the most of our
attention. For Mount Washington, our plan was to meet up with
some additional friends: Sam O. and his best bud Jeanne; and Sam
S. and his brother in-law Patrick. As Nabeel and I left Vermont –
and Mount Mansfield – we called Sam O. and Jeanne to let them know we
were coming. Sam S. and Pat were more than likely already heading
up Mount Washington. Half our group was planning on making Mount
Washington a “day trip”, while Sam S. and Pat were planning on camping
up at the Hermit Lake Shelters. Sam O. let us know that the
conditions on Mount Washington today (Friday 02/14/2009) were bad – 85
to 100 mph winds. Initially our plans had us heading up on
Friday. I was glad that we weren’t heading into those conditions
after all. But, the bad thing was that Saturday was supposed to
be WORSE! Needless, Nabeel and I made the 2.5 hour drive to
Gorham to meet up with Sam and Jeanne. We told Sam to keep an eye
on the weather reports.
Nabeel and I first picked up rental plastic boots for Nabeel.
Then, we made our way to Gorham to check into the hotel with Sam and
Jeanne. As we caught up with Sam and Jeanne, they informed us
that the weather forecast for tomorrow was NOT looking good. All
of us had some concerns about Sam S. and Pat, who we assumed were
camping at the Hermit Lake shelter on Friday, with plans to Summit on
Saturday. We had a great meal at Mr. Pizza in Gorham, and then
made it back to the hotel for one last check on the forecast and a
judgment on our final plans. Forecast indicated 85 to 100 mph
winds on the summit for Saturday with no sun for the day. Well,
that required a change of plans. In addition to the bad forecast,
I was also sporting some nasty bruises on my shins from the morning
climb on Mount Mansfield. So, the idea of pushing out climb back
a day was appealing to me. We all had time on our schedule in
order to allow us to push back the Mount Washington attempt to
Sunday. I could rest my aching shins another day. And, to
top it off, the Sunday forecast was calling for 30-40 mph winds, and
sunny skies. These conditions would make for a perfect day of
climbing. The call was made, we would rest on Saturday and climb
on Sunday. I should also mention that Sam O. was suffering some
stomach issues from a sketchy omelet that he had eaten that
morning. So, he wasn’t eager to spend the following day climbing
in fear that he might need easy bathroom access.
On Saturday, we got up late, and pretty much just hung around
Gorham. I purchased shin guards, mole skin and medical tape in
order try and develop a plan for dealing with my shin bang
problem. Nabeel, Jeannie and I went up to the Pinkham Notch
visitor’s center to check it out and to check on conditions. As
we drove up to the visitor’s center, we looked up at the mountain and
immediately knew that we had made the right decision for the day.
The summit was covered in clouds, and the clouds were moving across the
summit very fast. At the visitor’s center, we got further
confirmation that we’d made the right decision. We overheard a
phone conversation at the visitor’s center where they were telling
someone on the other end, “We aren’t sending any search and rescue
personnel above tree line today, because of the wind.” The
conditions board also confirmed that the forecast was coming
true. Our only concerns at this point were that tomorrow would be
better, and more importantly, that Sam and Pat would be ok on the
mountain today. Later in the day, we finally established contact
with Sam S. They had made it much further that we had thought
they would. From the sounds of it, they made it to the top of the
Lion’s Head Route, across the Alpine Garden, and started up the summit
cone, before they wisely turned back. Sam S. described wearing
full balaclava, ski goggles, and all upper and lower gear in order to
keep warm and manage the conditions. At the bottom we were in
sunny skies and 40-50 degrees most of the day.
Sunday morning came quickly, but we slept well, toasty in the
hotel. The night before I had come up with a plan to manage my
shin bang; taping the shin guards around my legs. Nabeel and I
geared up, and met up with Sam and Jeannie. We made a quick stop
to Dunkin Donuts for calories and caffeine, and then headed for the
trailhead. We finally got started around 8 am. Sam was
still having stomach issues and was not sure that he would be able to
stray far from a bathroom. About 5 minutes into the hike, he made
to call to head back. Nabeel, Jeannie and I continued without our
ailing bud. We were sad, but our rigorous pace and heavy
breathing quickly helped us regain our focus. We kept an
impressive pace, and made it to the Lion’s Head Winter Route runoff in
almost exactly an hour. I was planning for more like 2-3 hours,
so this was an awesome pace.
At the bottom of the Lion’s Head Route, we donned our crampons, helmets
and ice axes. About 15 minutes later we were heading up towards
the Lion’s Head. After a short flat trail, the steep Lion’s Head
Winter Route appeared before us. It was steep, but in most cases
there were plenty of steps already kicked in. We made quick time
up this steep route with no significant issues. We stopped a few
of times, but it was more in order to take pictures and video than for
exhaustion. The day was turning out to be beautiful. It was
sunny with little wind. We made the top of the Lion’s Head Route
and to the Lion’s Head Rock in just under 2 hours. Based on our
pace, I felt that we could see the summit in about 4 hours from the
trailhead. This would get us there just after noon.
We stopped at the Lion’s Head for about 10 minutes for food drink, and
plenty of video and pictures. The views into Tuckerman’s Ravine
were unbelievably beautiful today. We could clearly see in every
direction. The boot Spur – on the other side of the ravine – was
beautiful and ominous, as the clouds below us floated up the vine
towards the Boot Spur summit. Just awesome!
After a break, we started across the Alpine Garden. This section
was probably the windiest section that we saw all day – including the
summit. I’d estimate that we saw winds at no more than 40 mph,
and generally much lighter than that. With the sun high in the
sky to keep us warm, these conditions were awesome.
As we crossed the Alpine Garden, we started our way up the summit cone
of Mrs. Washington. The trail initially starts skirts the summit
cone, gaining elevation along the way. As it gets around the
South side of the summit cone, it heads straight North towards the
summit. The initial portion – skirting the summit cone – is
mostly just a snow climb, with little rocks to deal with. The
final portion – due North – is a bit more rocky, and steeper.
BUT, a most important fact about this last stretch to the summit is
that it is blocked from the wind. This would be my second time up
Mount Washington, and both times, the wind was coming from the North,
so that the summit cone blocked the wind during the final summit
pitch. This is nice!
We ultimately made the parking lot, and then the summit in just under
1.5 hours from the Lion’s Head Rock. This would put us right
around 4.5 hours from the trailhead. We spent 10-20 minutes on
and around the Summit. The day was beautiful, and it was just
nice being up there. It was a tad bit windy, but once you were
off the true summit, you could get behind a wind block easily. We
took more pictures and video, ate and drank. Overall, we were
feeling great. The nice weather and conditions sure does have a
psychological impact on the group. And, this day could not have
been any better.
We started back down from the summit, and just took our time. It
was so nice out that we just weren’t in any rush. We hiked down
the summit cone and continued towards the Alpine Garden. Along
the way, we attempted some short glissades. At this point I’ll
mention that my desire to glissade was partial to take the load off of
my shins. Although my shins were doing great compared to two days
prior, they were starting to rub just a little bit, and I was happy to
give them a break any chance I got. We got back to the Lion’s
Head Rock in around 40 minutes – lightening fast. We only spent a
few minutes at the Rock, but at this point we decided to take off our
crampons so that we could safely glissade during the decent down the
Lion’s Head Route. This would turn out to be debatable
decision. Although it was safer to glissade without the crampons
– without question – it would have been useful to use them on the
steepest down climbs towards the bottom of the route. In
addition, we often found ourselves stuck behind slower groups that were
not glissading. So, we didn’t get as many chances to glissade as
we would have liked. As we got towards the bottom, and the
steepest section of the route, it was a long jamb of people. Some
people ahead of us just weren’t comfortable with the down climb, even
with crampons on. With the beauty of the day, who could complain
about hanging out on the mountain? Nabeel, Jeannie and I still
managed to make it down those steep sections, sans crampons. It
required a bit of rock climbing skills – focus on edging and firm foot
placement – but it was totally manageable. Plus, it would have
been difficult to re-don our crampons at this point, perched on the top
of this steep section.
After the final crux decent, we made it back to the main turnoff.
The decent took us about 1 hour 15 minutes from the Lion’s Head
Rock. At this point, I told Nabeel and Jeannie to go on
ahead. I had packed in a lighted pair of hiking boots, and now I
was going to ditch the plastic boots, and their associated shin bang,
and get into something a bit more comfortable. It took me almost
15 minutes to take off my gaiters, remove my plastics, take off my shin
guards, put on my hiking boots, and pack everything away. Then, I
started RUNNING! Everything felt so much lighter, and more
comfortable. I wanted to catch up with Nabeel and Jeannie, so I
ran the lower Tuckerman’s Trail. This was awesome. The only
thing that was annoying was that my plastic boots were awkwardly
strapped to the outside of my pack, and they were banging around a lot.
I didn’t catch up to Jeannie until close to the bottom. Man, were
these guys flying! Jeannie and I walked out the final half mile
or so together. We ultimately made it back to the trailhead it
right around 7 hours round trip. We caught up with Sam and Nabeel
in the Visitor’s Center, with high fives all around. Sam
confirmed that he HAD made the right decision. Later in the day
he had ventured up the trail, even making it as far as the crux steep
climb on the Lion’s Head Route. We packed up, and made plans to
head towards North Conway to return rental gear and find something to
EAT!
This turned out to be an awesome climb. The weather and
conditions were perfect, and gave us the extra energy and motivation to
make the summit with plenty to spare. Great climb, great
partners, great day… What else can you ask for?
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