New Hampshire
Mount Washington - 6,288 feet
Summited on 8/28/03 - Highpoint #10 of 50
 Mark on the summit of Mt. Washington on 8/28/03. A 4.2 mile and
4,200 feet climb from Pinkham Notch via Huntington Ravine. |
 Mark and Logan on the summit of Mt. Washington on 8/08/06.
This was a much nicer day than my last visit. We took the car up |
I was in the White's to do a hut to hut hike that would likely see me on the top of Mt. Washington anyway. But I thought it would be more sporting to climb it via the hardest route, Huntington Ravine. The lady in the Pinkham Notch visitor center sounded all ominous about my plans but I shrugged her off. The route was over grown on the bottom portion but not too terribly hard to follow. It started to get fun once you actually got into Huntington ravine. There is lots of boulder hopping and a few sections where you have to friction climb up some wet granite holding on to a crack (Class 4), but nothing too serious. Just fun. I got up to the top in heavy clouds and had to decide whether I would continue on to the summit or take the bypass loop and go down. I loaded up with wind proof clothes and pushed on to the summit. Shortly there after I crested a hill and was hit by the full brunt of the wind. Through the clouds I could just barely see two cairns ahead on the trail and my eyes teared from the constant wind. A few times I was actually knocked down by the force of the wind gust. If I had been way off in the back country somewhere I would definitely have turned around. But since I knew where the paved road was relative to my position, I figured worst case I could just point my compass towards the road and then follow it the rest of the way. It turns out I could always see the next cairn and never had to resort to plan B. After snapping my picture on the summit I headed inside the visitor center for pizza and a coffee. I found out that the temperature was 33°F with a wind chill of 19°F. Wind speeds were 55 mph sustained and gusting to 75 mph. Good grief! On the down to pick up the trail I passed a guy in shorts carrying his infant in a blanket. It seemed silly that I was in full cold weather attire and this idiot was dressed for the beach. Go figure.
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