The White Mountains

Pinkham Notch Trailhead

Before I had even left Cincinnati I knew this would be one of the most difficult trips I had ever decided to go for.  It was a monumental undertaking in my mind, to go up to New Hampshire, summit 5 of the tallest mountains of the northeast in the snow and wind over the course of three days having never done such a thing before.  We started from Cincinnati around 3AM, picked up the rest of our crew in Cleveland around 7AM and continued smoothly north through New York.  Getting into Connecticut winter storm Benji started to hit us.  As we tried to outrun it in Vermont we quickly got bogged down by icy roads, we decided to spend the night about 2 hours away from our trailhead.

Along the AT South Bound

The next morning I woke up early and finished the drive north.  After situating our gear, talking to the rangers about summit conditions and getting the forecast we began up the trail.  It was quite a late start, around 10AM.  Immediately we turned onto fresh powder and were breaking trail, luckily the snow was light and soft.  I started to have my own reservations as the day continued on and the group began to move slower and slower.  I love these guys and they did a great job but our pace continued to suffer.  We slowly began to reevaluate our position and figure out our plan.

Near Osgood Camp

As the darkness (and cold) were beginning to close in towards the end of the day, we decided to spend the night at Osgood Camp around 2,500' below the summit of Mt. Madison, which was our objective for that day.  We quickly set up tents, got situated and made warm food to keep us going.  The group discussed different options and seeing the pace we had been at it was decided that we would most likely not be able to complete the 8 mile trek along the summit ridge to Mt. Washington safely before dark the next day.  As a team, we looked over the map and decided that we would break camp in the morning, make a quick push to the nearest trailhead and go straight for Mt. Washington from Pinkham Notch.  The next day by 7:30AM I was on the trail rushing towards the parking area.  By 8:30 I had arrived, flagged down a driver (Thanks Susan!) and was heading back with my car to pick up the others.

On the Tuckerman Ravine Trail

I figured I would see them there by 9:15AM at the latest since it had taken me so little time to get there.  I sat in the car and looked over the maps evaluating our plan.  Originally we thought we would head up the trail and camp below the summit but the rangers told me that a storm that night was predicted to dump around 10" of fresh snow and a summit the next day would be next to impossible with drifting snow and near whiteout conditions.  They said our best bet would be to do it all today and finish the last bit below tree-line after dark.  They estimated that if we could be on the trail by 10AM we'd have a fair shot (I might have sounded more knowledgeable then I was when I talked to them though...). I sat in the car and thought over all of this and quickly 9:20AM rolled around, I began to worry.  I decided to walk back up the trail and saw only my fresh prints.  Around 9:30 I finally heard their voices coming down the trail and already knew in my mind a summit was out of the question for us.  We arrived back at the car by 9:45, packed in and decided that we would at least go up the trail for a few hours and see what we saw.  One of our team decided he was done and stayed behind, so the other three of us started up the trail yet again.  Quickly another one of the team fell behind and started to turn back.  With only two of us left, my only goal was to make it to Hermit Lake and see above treeline.  As we continued on we ran into more and more people coming off the mountain, telling us of crazy snow levels and wanting to know how close the incoming storm was.  We would trade ideas of how far each was from their objective, wish each other safe travels and continue on our way.

2 Miles (~3,000') Below Mt. Washington

After about an hour and a half we found where the Lion Head Trail took off for the summit.  Under a cloudy sky, the conditions already beginning to deteriorate with increasing winds and on and off snow we took a photo at the closest point we would get to New Hampshire's highest summit and hunkered down at Hermit Lake Shelter #5 for a quick lunch.  We had a light snack, shared a cup of hot tea and exchanged thoughts of our trip.  Being still chilled us quickly so we got up and headed back to the trailhead where our warm car awaited.  After about 30 minutes we reached the bottom and told our friends of how high we had reached.

Coming away from this trip I viewed it as a failure, I didn't touch a summit, I didn't push to go for Mt. Madison when we were so close and so many other things I didn't do that I might have been able to.  Looking back on it though I learned so much and in that way it was a success.  Next time I won't go so big until I know the team can take it.  Next time I'll know what its like to slog through the snow and ice.  I'll know what I can do, how to do it and have a better chance for success the next time.  Every trip is an unknown adventure and the ones that I end up learning something from mean so much more to me.
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"Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountains and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books"
-Sir John Lubbock