Last Saturday, Brett and team set out from The Bunkhouse at 8:30am for a climb of Mt. Washington. The weather forecast we perfect with sunny skies and 25-35mph winds. In the Valley, the birds were chirping and it felt like spring.

We hit the trail head at 9am and set a ramped pace. We reached the Huntington Ravine cutoff trail at 9:30 and were feeling great! By 10:15 we were at Lion’s head winter route, had a snack, water, crampons on and ice axes out! Onward and upward. The trail had been hard packed snow and icy in spots, which made for great walking. Assuming that the snow was melting out, I expected the “hillary step” to be the same, long, and rocky. When we got to the bottom, it was a short ice step about 30 inches high, a rope handrail wasn’t necessary. Few steps with great hand holds on the trees was all it took. Everyone crushed it with ease. Again, onward and upward!

Tree line was delightful with visibility forever, or so it seemed. There was one small cloud in the sky, I guess the weather men were wrong. We took a long break there and ate some food and enjoyed the sun. As we looked up the trail you could see the snow blowing which told me that we were soon to be in the wind. We added a layer, got our goggles and buffs ready and started out for Lion’s Head. Not long later, we were battling the 20mph winds. The air temperature was close to 40 degrees so the wind chill was still well above zero.

The traverse across the alpine garden, up to split rock and to the summit were fantastic. Great trail conditions allowed the group to arrive at the crowded summit in great style. There were many skiers and snowboarders at the top as well as the snow cat loading up and getting ready to descend with some edu-tour participants. We tagged the summit and then descended. We stopped a few times on the descent to watch the skiers in Tuckerman’s Ravine and on the Snowfields.

This climb was about redemption and overcoming short-comings. Two of the six climbers had reached Lion’s head last year. They spent all year training and climbing stairs…they were determined to summit. They Did! Nice job guys!

Last Saturday, Jamie and I [Brett] were back on the hill! The weather was great, 80’s at the visitor center and low 50’s at the summit. If anything, it was TOO HOT! Jamie left the visitor center, with minimal gear and regular hiking boots, around 7:30am with 6 of the 8 expected climbers. I wandered aimlessly around the Visitor’s Center until 8:15am looking for the two climbers that had yet to arrive. Upon no avail and contemplating whether or not to purchase some shorts in the Visitor’s Center [I didn’t, although I wish I had], I started up the trail to catch up with the group.

Within the 45 minutes between the time Jamie and crew departed the Visitor’s Center and the time I followed at least 300 people were swarming the parking lot, fields, and buildings. I noticed that many of them were speaking french, which isn’t uncommon since many Canadian climbers come to the states to climb Mt. Washington. It was a little peculiar because approximately 90% of the people on the trail were Canadian and there were A LOT more people that past weekends with similar weather forecasts. Soon after we broke tree line, I realized that the following Monday was a canadian holiday; they had a three-day weekend and with the fantastic weather forecast it was a perfect excuse for them to visit the states! Ah-ha!

Jamie and 4 climbers summited around 12:30am. Congrats guys! At the summit, they encountered the zoo. The Adam’s summit building and the auto road had opened for the first weekend of the year and the cog railway was in full operation. This always brings huge numbers to the summit. They were greeted by a hundred people or so as they attempted to tag the summit sign and get a celebratory picture. Their persistence, determination and effort was rewarded by being cut in line for pictures by hot dog scarfing tourists who drove or rode to the summit in the railway. WOOHOO! This doesn’t diminish the accomplishment but puts a slight stain on the memory.

I climbed to Lion’s Head, where I turned around with 1 climber and pointed out the trail and the potential hazards to the other so that he could proceed to the summit. He is an avid geo cacher, has plenty of hiking experience and had all the way points in his gps. With the great weather forecast and amount of people on the trail, I felt compelled to send him alone. We made a plan so that when he met up with Jamie and the others on their descent, he would take their radio so that we could remain in contact as he pushed to the summit and down. This worked out to perfection. Dave summited around 2pm and radioed in every time he reached a prominent landmark. Thanks for being diligent with your communication Dave! It made our [his wife and my] stress levels minimal.

Since Judy and I were down before the rest, we hopped in my car and drove to the local convenient store to purchase a few six packs so that we could surprise and have an unexpected treats for the others when they returned…they were grateful and man, did that beer taste good! All in all it was a fantastic day and we hope to see you all again [maybe next winter when the temperatures aren’t so hot?]!

The weather forecast was pretty grim for Saturday April 28th and I was scheduled to climb Mt. Washington with one climber. Cloudy, -30 wind chills, and 65 mph winds. We headed out to stick our noses into it and see what the mountain would allow us to do. Mike is a Scuba Diving Instructor from Connecticut and a fit one at that. He is starting his training for his second marathon in D.C. and what a way to do it than climbing Mt. Washington in the winter. It may be flowers and butterflies in Massachusetts but Mt. Washington is holding onto its notorious winter weather. We skipped over our normal first break and pushed straight onto the second break. Here we took 10 minutes to get a snack and water before we pushed onto Lions Head. We reached Lions Head at 10AM.. about an hour and half earlier than normal! We felt great and kept the pace across the Alpine Garden which, wouldn’t you know it, was windy as usual.. 25mph sustained with 45mph gusts. I was surprised at how much snow there was on the trail, which we had to break because we were the first to go up since the summit received 5″ of powder. The climb to split rock was slow going due to knee deep powder. We didn’t see another soul on the mountain until we began our trek down. The clouds parted as we crested the summit which gave us an amazing view as a reward. Then the clouds closed in as fast as they cleared. This continued throughout our 30 minute stay on top. It took us 4.5 hours to the summit. Depending where you stood, the wind was 30mph – 60mph. We got the full experience of Mt. Washington on this day! The descent took another 3.5 hours only taking 1 leisurely break and a few smaller ones to adjust our clothing. All in all it was a great day, setting our new guiding record of fastest climb all the while in great company! Thanks for a great climb Mike!

Sunday, we were rock climbing with Paul and Amelia! First time rock climbers and we are pumped that they chose NEM to show them a good time. We climbed a number of routes and their forearms still haven’t forgiven them fully for the 4 hours of work. It was a fantastic day to be out there…and everyone else must have agreed because it was busy! Folks were climbing just about every major route on the cliff. We’re looking forward to Paul and Amelia’s return to tackle some unfinished business on the end crag.