Despite the long wait.. winter has settled onto Mt. Washington and the White Mountain National Forest. Although there still is not a very deep base of snow, they have had wind gusts of 122MPH and it is currently -11 degrees at the summit with a 53MPH wind which brings the wind chill down to a chilly -48 degrees! Thats a lot of clothing to wear to stay warm! Check out this website for updated reports from the Observatory team on the summit. http://www.mountwashington.org/weather/comments/

On Sunday December 18th we took advantage of the clear skies and climbed Mt. Madison. We got off to a late start at 10AM on the Valley Way trail. It was mostly snow covered leaves on the trail. There is no need for any traction down low. After an hour and a half of climbing the trail became a frozen stream and careful footwork was needed. Micro Spikes or Yak Trax would suffice nicely. Crampons would have been more of a nuisance than a help. We broke treeline in about 3.5 hours and stepped into the sun for the first time. We took a break at Madison Spring Hut and we were joined by a moose! I haven’t seen a whole lot of wildlife during the day in the White Mountains, so this was a very rare treat! We snuck by the moose who was nearly blocking our trail and headed up the Osgood Trail toward the summit of Madison. The summit cone of Madison is very blocky and tedious, but rather short. We reached the summit a little over 4 hours from the car. We spent about 15 minutes on the summit taking pictures and basking in the sun before we had to drop back into the shadow cast by Mt Adams. Above treeline, the trail is a mix of snow and rock and again crampons were not needed, although micro spikes would be helpful. On the descent, we again found the moose, but this time he was blocking our route down, so we coaxed him into moving over a few feet through yelling at him and rolling a stone near him. We snuck by him and the rest of the descent was uneventful. I used crampons on the descent in some spots to avoid slipping on the ice in the trail. Brett opted to go without the crampons and he wasn’t too bothered with the slippery conditions. The round trip took us 7.5 hours. Madison is probably my second favorite peak in the presidentials. Adams being the first. Again.. we lucked out on the weather! Cold, but no wind and clear skies..

Breaking treeline and leaving the cold shade behind.

Although we made the summit, the moose was the highlight of the day!

Mt. Adams on the right and Mt. Washington peaking out on the left.

Mt. Adams.. Second Highest in New England, dominates the horizon

Climbing to the false summit of Madison. The real summit is 2 minutes past the high point seen here

On December 3rd we climbed Mt. Washington again. This time with our friend Rich, who had never been to the top of New England. Yet again we got the best day of the week (maybe the month). I know our last climb was titled “Perfect Weather”, but I can now say that this climb was “Perfect Weather”. We had balmy temperatures, sun the entire climb, and zero wind. Even at the top of Lions Head, there was not a breathe of wind.
We got started up Tucks trail at 8AM and arrived at the Lions Head junction by 10AM. Tucks trail was mostly snow covered rocks (caused by the slight dusting we got the night before) with ice in the low spots. Mainly rock hopping to the junction. Lions Head up to treeline was more of the same, but slightly less ice. Above treeline, we found hardly any ice and a little bit of snow. Mostly summer conditions. We actually took our second break of the day on top of Lions Head Proper, which is typically impossible due to the high winds that are almost always present there. The traverse between Lions Head and the summit cone was quite wet and icy, but easy going. The summit cone had very little ice or snow on it at all.. again summer conditions. We spent about 30 minutes on the summit and Rich logged his first ascent into the history books (great job Rich!). We took our standard hero shots next to the summit sign, ate pringles, and headed down. We thought we would increase our sightseeing and take Tuckermans Ravine Trail down, as many people that day had come up it. We found the trail to be extremely icy. We mostly had to walk along the side of the trail, as the trail itself was a frozen waterfall. Although it proved to be a great change of scenery, we found it to be very slow going as each step took care and proper placement. I would recommend a Lions Head ascent and descent at this point. Crampons are recommended for Tuckermans. We finished the jaunt down the ski trail in the dark. We couldn’t have asked for a better day to summit Mt. Washington!

Lions Head from the Traverse to the summit cone.

Rich reaching the top of New England for his first ascent.

A shot of the Northern Presidentials to compare with our last post.

A sea of Mountains looking South from the summit.

Lions Head in the fading light from the top of Tuckermans