Hiking Mt. Washington

We'd been invited for another New Hampshire hiking trip to the Schuss House, which is a ski lodge in the winter, sleeps 50+, and has a history of adventurous outings. There was a good group of us there, and many of us had been on the previous trip in April. Saturday started out as a lovely day, but several of us still bought better hats and gloves for the hike to the top of Mt. Washington, the highest peak in New England, known for the worst weather in the world.

The leaves in New Hampshire (we were a few hours north of Boston) were just starting to turn colors. Below, you can see Mt. Washington in the background.

Someone's hat flew off and someone else ran to catch it. As we crossed along a ridge, the winds must have been 60 miles per hour. We had to hike hunched over so our centers of gravity were lower. We took each step carefully, for fear of the wind knocking us over onto the rough granite rocks that were everywhere.

We'd started the hike in shorts and t-shirts, but as soon as we reached the tree line, we buttoned up. The wind was whipping so strong that it was best to keep your knit hat inside your hood.

With the wind as it was, the clouds blew over the mountain very quickly. Within the span of five minutes, you could see the peak, then it was covered, then you could see it again.

There were stacks of rocks to mark the trail. At this point above the tree line, the mountain is mostly rocks.

From Wikipedia: Rime ice, or hard rime, is a white ice that forms when the water droplets in fog freeze to the outer surfaces of objects. It is often seen on trees atop mountains and ridges in winter, when low-hanging clouds cause freezing fog. This fog freezes to the windward (wind-facing) side of tree branches, buildings, or any other solid objects, usually with high wind velocities and air temperatures between 18-28 degrees Fahrenheit.

Check out that steep grade!

We made it!

Check out the rime ice over there.

This small building at the top of Mt. Washington is chained to the mountain to prevent it from being blown away. And that's rime ice all over it.

This is the weather station at the top.

I think you should be able to click the picture below to make it bigger, but if not, here are the highlights. Summit wind speed: 64MPH (we were guessing it had been windier on the ridge). 24-hour peak wind speed: 91MPH. Current temp: 27 degrees.