Mt. Washington Spring Break Hike/Climb 2006!!

Well, I didn't have anything much planned for spring break so me and my friend Dave decided we were going to attempt to summit Mt. Washington. Washington is the highest peak in the northeast at 6,288 ft, Washington also holds the WORLDS highest wind speed record of 231 mph, and is the only mountain on the east coast that has avalanches. We got all the items we needed including high energy food, snowshoes, crampons (metal spikes for boots), goggles, face masks, double boots, ice axes, whisperlite backpacking stove, climbing rope, and everything else we needed. We then watched the weather closely trying to decide when the best day to leave would be. We finally left when the weather looked like it would be good for a few days. We got there, and started our hike to base camp at Tuckerman's Ravine from Pinkham Notch which was a 2.4 mile hike with 1800ft of elevation gain. We made this hike with 70-80lb packs on. Once we got to the base camp, which consisted of Lean-to with doors, we unpacked, and rested a little. We then decided to hike part way up Tuckerman's Ravine, to check out the conditions on the mountain. There was approx. 2-3 ft of snow, at some places, and everything was covered with about a half inch of ice. We practiced our self arresting technique which you use if you, god forbid, are sliding down the mountain. It consists of taking your ice axe while your sliding down the mountain and jamming it into the snow and ice and stopping yourself. We then went back down when it started to get dark. We tried to get a good night sleep but it was hard at -10 degs. We then got up early the next morning, there was a fresh coat of snow on the ground. We checked the summit conditions at the caretakers cabin, there were wind gusts of 75-80mph, and the temp. with wind chill was around -35 to -45 deg. F. So we decided to go, and try to attempt to summit. We decided the safest route would be the Lions Head winter trail. We started off, and it was going good. Then we hit some really steep areas of trail that were all solid ice. We had to use our ice axes, and crampons to make it up. We finally made it to the alpine zone where the treeline stops. The wind instantly picked up to like 50-60 mph, and all the rocks where coated with thick ice. We continued slowly trying not to slip or fall. It felt like we where trying to summit Everest. We had to where our goggles because the wind was so strong if a piece of snow blew in ours eyes, it could have been disasterous. The temp. at this point was around -30 deg. We then made it to Lions head peak, which was still about a half mile from the summit. The wind here was incredible, it must have been at least 75-85 mph, we couldn't even stand up. The temp. had to be around -35 maybe even -40, I took my hand out of my glove for a second, and instead of being cold, my hand actually burned, and turned red. So I thought I better put my glove back on. At that point we decided not to risk our lives, more then we already had, so we turned around, and started our decent, happy to know we made it that far, and experienced some of the worlds worst weather.

Below are some videos, and pictures from the trip.

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