I went on a winter hike on Mt. Washington on Friday, January 11, 2019 with my three brother in laws: Michael, Jesse, and David. Jesse had attempted to climb the 6,288 foot peak with his wife two years prior, and he came up with the idea of us all going back for another attempt. We had been planning this hike for several months, and spent a lot of time amassing the gear we would need. The rest of us didn’t really know what to expect as we had no experience with winter mountaineering.
Michael flew out from California and met us in Virginia on Wednesday, then the four of us made the 11 hour drive up to North Conway, New Hampshire on Thursday. We stopped by the International Mountain Equipment shop and rented some gear we hadn’t purchased. I rented boots, crampons, gaiters, an ice axe, and hiking poles. The weather looked very cold and moderately windy, but the man we talked to at IME said we should be fine on our hike as long as the wind didn’t climb much above 70mph, which would make walking difficult.
The next morning we checked the 4:30am forecast for the summit and it didn’t look very promising. The forecast was much worse, and they were now calling for sustained winds of 75-95 mph with gusts up to 130 mph later in the day.
This forecast seemed very intimidating to someone like me used to the relatively mild winters of Virginia. However, we decided we would still go out and try to make it at least to the tree line. It would be a good test of our gear, and we could turn back whenever we felt like it was getting too intense.
We started the hike at the Pinkham Notch visitor center. The frigid wind that greeted us as we stepped out of our minivan made me question the wisdom of our decision to do the hike that day. But we could always turn back if things got too bad. They have a room at the visitors center where you can get suited up, and we also filled our insulated water bottles with hot water here.
Tuckerman Ravine Trail
We started the hike around 7 am shortly after day break and began walking along the Tuckerman Ravine Trail. This was my least favorite part of the hike. It was difficult walking through the snow with the stiff plastic mountaineering boots, and this part of the trail seemed kind of boring to me. I had most of my layers on, and I quickly became drenched in sweat, even with everything unzipped. With my hair starting to freeze solid, I stopped and stripped down to only a single fleece jacket. I would wear nothing but this jacket and my snow pants until we reached the treeline.
If you look closely you can see that I have my goggles on my head. I learned this is a bad idea if you sweat a lot like me. They instantly fog up when you put them on your forehead and then freeze in the cold weather. I also brought a second pair, but they also fogged up on top of Lion’s Head when I put them on my forehead to look at the view.
Lion Head Winter Route Trail
The day before, there had been a big snowstorm and the snow made the going a little slow when we turned onto the wooded Lion Head Winter Route. We followed a trail of footprints from someone who had started the hike earlier than us, but at one point we lost the trail and spent a few minutes looking for the next trail marker. However the snow did have the advantage of making us feel a lot safer when doing the steepest parts of the Lion Head winter route, which we soon encountered.
The pictures don’t do the steepness of this part of the trail justice. It seemed like we were doing more of a rock climb than hike. It was very comforting to me to see that the rocks were covered with several inches of snow providing more cushion in case of a fall.
With the steepest part of the hike over we began approaching the treeline. Close to the treeline we could see a windy layer of air whipping up snow above our heads. We put on more layers and had a snack break right below the treeline. My fleece was covered in ice, so I took it off and put it in my pack while putting on my wool sweater, down jacket, and outer jacket. We also put on our balaclavas, hats and goggles.
The snow was very deep in the last section of the hike before the treeline and in some places the footprints we had been following had been blown away. Once we passed the tree line the wind was unlike anything I have ever experienced.
Above the Tree Line
Hiking above the treeline felt less like a hike, and more like a spacewalk on some alien planet.
The wind came in gusts that would force you to stop mid-step and brace yourself. The wind had blown most of the snow away above the treeline and the only remaining was very packed down and icy. I stumbled several times on the rocky and uneven ground
We’d already decided to go no further than the Lion’s Head outcropping, so we sheltered behind some rocks on top of the Lion’s Head and took a short break before turning around. The videos we took above the tree line were short, because your hand would practically turn into an ice-sickle in the 15 seconds it took to pull your phone out and take a quick video.
I snapped this picture on Lion’s Head right before we started back down. The point where we stopped was right at 5000 feet altitude. We debated going farther, but decided it was too risky. There were no other hikers above the treeline that day (we met the two hiker’s whose footprints we had been following all day coming as they also turned around at Lion’s Head), and the weather conditions were forecasted to get worse as the day went on.
Back Down the Mountain
My second pair of goggles fogged up during my break on Lion’s Head because I put them on the top of my head which made going back down the portion above the treeline very difficult. I couldn’t really see with them on, but with them off I couldn’t look into the wind without getting shards of ice blown into my eyes. Once we got below the treeline and out of the wind the rest of the hike down went really fast. For several portions of the trail we just slid down on our butts which was really fun.
This chart shows the actual weather recorded for Jan. 11th. The summit on the day of our hike had the coldest average temperature and highest average wind speed of the month so far.
I snapped this photo at the Mt. Washington Weather Museum. 12:00PM is when we were at the highest point of our hike and the winds were gusting over 100mph at the summit. Also, The frigid -40 degree windchill at the summit at this time to dropped to a mind blowing -70 degrees later that night. Not a good night to be stuck out on the mountain.
