American Alpine Project
Ascending America's Highest Peaks to Raise Spirits Around the Globe
Mount Washington, New Hampshire
Mt. Washington, NH
Elevation: 6,288 ft.
Summit Attained: 1:15 p.m., January 2008
This one was really spur-of-the-moment. Bored at work on a particularly slow Thursday, I checked the
I arrived at my hotel around 4 A.M. and promptly hit the sack. Unfortunately, the energy drinks that kept me awake while driving never really loosened their grip, and I tossed and turned until 6:30 without any meaningful rest.
I met my friend Brian around 7 A.M., and we hit the Tuckerman’s Ravine trail from Pinkham Notch at 8:30. We covered the fire road section in about 40 minutes, only stopping once for a five minute water break. More than two feet of snow had fallen the night before, so we decided to take the Lion Head Winter Route to minimize the avalanche risk.
Soon we came to the small turnoff where the route begins, and several minutes later we donned our crampons and began climbing. The Lion Head trail below treeline is quite steep in spots, and the new snow obscured our view of any rocks or tree roots that could have served as footing. Even so, we reached treeline about twenty minutes after gearing up.
Once above treeline, it became evident that the wind was going to be pretty strong higher up. Despite the forecast, it was starting to snow pretty hard, and the surface conditions were going from bad to worse, with several fractures visible in the slope leading up to the Lion Head formation. We reached the formation as fast as we could manage in the deep snow, and used one of the boulders as a shelter for a quick snack break. Anticipating high winds, we both donned balaclavas, goggles and extra layers before moving on.
As soon as we crested the Lion Head, the wind hit us like a ton of bricks. Although it was probably about average for mid-February
The wind died a bit when we reached the Alpine Garden, where we found several climbers (the only team still ahead of us) looking pretty lost in what was quickly becoming a whiteout. They had turned around and were trying to get down, but I had a GPS, so they decided to join our team for one last shot at the top. Brian and I took turns breaking trail up the next section, with the new members bringing up the rear. At the base of the summit cone, they decided to turn around for good, so we gave them a bearing to get back to treeline and continued up the final section of the climb.
Thankfully, the snow on the summit cone, while deeper than normal, was nothing compared to the earlier trudging we had suffered through. We made great time, reaching the summit in about thirty minutes. After signing the climbing register and wolfing down our lunches, we took some photos and gave a quick trail report to several meteorologists who had summited via a snowcat ride up the auto road. They informed us that we were the only climbing team to make the top that day!
Like a lot of climbs, getting down the mountain was harder than getting up. We were pretty tired, but the snow didn’t care one bit. In fact, it seemed to be much deeper on our descent line through the Alpine Garden, where I sank in up to my waist too many times to count. Things finally got easier below treeline, and we glissaded most of the way back to the fire road, arriving back at Pinkham Notch around 4 P.M.
Elevation: 6,288 ft.
Summit Attained: 1:15 p.m., January 2008
This one was really spur-of-the-moment. Bored at work on a particularly slow Thursday, I checked the
I arrived at my hotel around 4 A.M. and promptly hit the sack. Unfortunately, the energy drinks that kept me awake while driving never really loosened their grip, and I tossed and turned until 6:30 without any meaningful rest.
I met my friend Brian around 7 A.M., and we hit the Tuckerman’s Ravine trail from Pinkham Notch at 8:30. We covered the fire road section in about 40 minutes, only stopping once for a five minute water break. More than two feet of snow had fallen the night before, so we decided to take the Lion Head Winter Route to minimize the avalanche risk.
Soon we came to the small turnoff where the route begins, and several minutes later we donned our crampons and began climbing. The Lion Head trail below treeline is quite steep in spots, and the new snow obscured our view of any rocks or tree roots that could have served as footing. Even so, we reached treeline about twenty minutes after gearing up.
Once above treeline, it became evident that the wind was going to be pretty strong higher up. Despite the forecast, it was starting to snow pretty hard, and the surface conditions were going from bad to worse, with several fractures visible in the slope leading up to the Lion Head formation. We reached the formation as fast as we could manage in the deep snow, and used one of the boulders as a shelter for a quick snack break. Anticipating high winds, we both donned balaclavas, goggles and extra layers before moving on.
As soon as we crested the Lion Head, the wind hit us like a ton of bricks. Although it was probably about average for mid-February
The wind died a bit when we reached the Alpine Garden, where we found several climbers (the only team still ahead of us) looking pretty lost in what was quickly becoming a whiteout. They had turned around and were trying to get down, but I had a GPS, so they decided to join our team for one last shot at the top. Brian and I took turns breaking trail up the next section, with the new members bringing up the rear. At the base of the summit cone, they decided to turn around for good, so we gave them a bearing to get back to treeline and continued up the final section of the climb.
Thankfully, the snow on the summit cone, while deeper than normal, was nothing compared to the earlier trudging we had suffered through. We made great time, reaching the summit in about thirty minutes. After signing the climbing register and wolfing down our lunches, we took some photos and gave a quick trail report to several meteorologists who had summited via a snowcat ride up the auto road. They informed us that we were the only climbing team to make the top that day!
Like a lot of climbs, getting down the mountain was harder than getting up. We were pretty tired, but the snow didn’t care one bit. In fact, it seemed to be much deeper on our descent line through the Alpine Garden, where I sank in up to my waist too many times to count. Things finally got easier below treeline, and we glissaded most of the way back to the fire road, arriving back at Pinkham Notch around 4 P.M.
