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Mount Washington: Highway to Heaven and Hell
Rate it! Votes (0) | Comments (0) By L.A. Jackson Photos: L. Posted August 6th, 2007

NEW HAMPSHIRE, USA -- Sometimes the biggest adventures start because of the smallest whims. While visiting North Conway, New Hampshire, in the White Mountains area for a few days of springtime R&R, I was staying at post-card-perfect retreat called the Buttonwood Inn. On the second day of my stay, I wandered downstairs early and, while in the middle of morning chitchat with the owner, mentioned that I was trying to decide on whether or not to go up that day to the top of Mount Washington, the crown jewel of the White Mountains.

"You should really go," he said. It is not what he said but how he said it that put the hook in me. The innkeeeper was an easy-going host with a pleasant personality and a knack for cooking inn-tense, thoroughly enjoyable breakfasts at his award-winning B&B. However, he became contemplative in thought when I mentioned Mount Washington. He had been up the mountain several times, and, judging by the way he talked about it, he probably would take the same trip many more times in his lifetime.

"What in the world is up there?" I wondered. Actually, I had good reason to wonder why anyone would want to go to the top this rock in the first place, since, after all, it has proudly been proclaimed as "The Home of the World's Worst Weather."

Reaching 6,288 feet, Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeast and is situated in a spot where three major storm tracks continually collide, which makes for the kind of nasty weather to write home about on a regular basis.

Naturally, there is a weather station on top of Mount Washington, and its historical data confirms that conditions are some of the worst of the worst: two-thirds of the year, the summit is socked in clouds; hurricane force winds occur on average every third day; -40°F is not uncommon; its highest temperature reading ever was 72°F back in 1975; average snowfall is 256 inches; and then there was the Big Blow: the world record wind gust of 231 mph on April 12, 1934. Only thick steel cables prevented the 130-year-old stone weather complex from being blown away that day.

In spite of, or maybe because of, such ominous information, I decided to take it to the top. Since a hike could take several hours, I hopped on board the Mount Washington Auto Road, a van shuttle service that runs regular tours up to the Observatory--weather permitting, of course.

Although temperatures were in the mid 50's and climbing at the shuttle center, the guide told riders to hang onto their jackets because it could be "a bit nippy at the summit."

The 7.6-mile road to the top had all the typical Appalachian Mountains twists and turns, but the incline had a definite influence on the forest. We started through deciduous maples, birches and mountain ash, but a third of the way up the mountain, conifers took over. Towering spruce and fir trees dominated the terrain, with an occasional brave mountain ash hanging on.

At 4000 feet, the spruces and firs remained, but no where near the size of their 40-foot cousins at lower altitudes. The wind, rain, snow and ice had, over time, bent, twisted and bowed the trees into natural bonsais. There was hardly a tree topping six feet, yet many of them were over 100 years old.

These stunted trees were signs that this was the point where the weather could really get interesting--and that day, it did not disappoint. We were quickly enveloped by the clouds, which dropped visibility to twenty feet. I also noticed that the fog was not in the form of innocuous drifts but rather in sheets of gray that streaked by the van almost horizontally.

Further up, the terrain changed again. The last of the trees had surrendered to the elements, and only lichens and moss clung to raw boulder outcroppings. Looking at this moonscape and listening to the wind howling to be let in the van, I found I had dug into my subconscious and was inadvertently whistling to myself a few riffs of AC/DC's "Highway to Hell."

The guide mentioned that the Native Americans who inhabited the valley below hundreds of years ago called the peak "Agiocochook," which means "Home of the Great Spirit." They never climbed to the top of Mount Washington because of this belief that spirits inhabited the summit. Darby Field made the first recorded ascent to the top in 1642, and I couldn't help but wonder what the weather was like when he set foot on the summit.

The van lurched to a halt, and the driver pointed to a blob in the swirling mist, saying, "There's the Observatory."

I knew the wind was a ripping gale, and it confirmed my suspicions by mauling me all the way to the door. The wind's force was bad enough, but it also had added punch due to the freezing temperature. Inside the Observatory, instrument gauges confirmed the obvious: a cold 31°F with a sustained wind of 68 mph, effectively creating a wind chill of -4°F.

Not to be deterred by conditions that had all the characteristics of an Arctic hurricane, I quickly joined in with a group when one of the meteorologists volunteered to take them to the top of the Observatory to "feel what the wind is really like." The wobbly, wind-driven walk was an experience by itself, but on top of the building, completely exposed to the extremes, gave a new definition to the word "intense."

While my clothes flogged me like I was a felon, the cold penetrated every pore of my body. An 84-mph gust convinced everyone they had experienced just about all the weather could handle for one day on top of Mount Washington.

Coming down the mountain, with bad hair and a Slushee headache, I wondered why it was such a magnet for tourists and locals alike. However, after spending a few more days in the surrounding valley, I found the answer. In the winter, the White Mountains region is one of the top ski centers in the Northeast, but during the warm months of the year, it is a hiker's haven. Trails are everywhere, with one of them being the famous Appalachian Trail, so the area is a natural draw for people who like to take to the woods to see what is around the next bend, what is over the next hill.

There are 48 mountains in what is called the Presidential Range of the White Mountains, and each one of them is a prize for the hikers who pursue the summits to participate in what the locals call "peak-bagging." And whether a climber can claim forty or only four peaks, Mount Washington is usually one of the trophies simply because its commanding presence can't be ignored.

As I found out, the weather on Mount Washington can be beyond nasty, but experienced hikers know this and respect the mountain during its mean times. As it is a place of unbelievably violent conditions, so it is also a place of unbelievable beauty. A local innkeeper told me of a time when he and his wife hiked through the fog up Mount Washington late one day and found the peak to be above the clouds. That night, they marveled as the light from the moon transformed the tops of the clouds into a glowing celestial floor.

Mount Washington can be enjoyed by visitors, but on its own terms. It demands respect, so amateur adventurers should not set out to "conquer" this mountain but rather should come to it aware of their own capabilities as well as limitations.

The reward for reaching the top comes not only in the form of self-accomplishment but also in the beauty that can be found seven feet away on a lichen-encrusted rock or seventy miles away in the panoramic vistas that can surround the summit.

The Native Americans were right about Mount Washington: there are indeed spirits on the summit. Many people who ride or hike to the top do it to see and experience the natural forces that surround this mountain, and, in a way, to draw strength through their own understanding of nature's power. And for these people who come to know the mountain as they come to know themselves, the spirits come from within.

Practicalities
Mount Washington dominates Mount Washington Valley in eastern central New Hampshire. It is approximately 60 miles northwest of Portland, Maine, which is served by US Air (www.usaircom).

There are 28 towns in the area, with North Conway being the "center." The Valley has over 70 restaurants as well as more than 125 lodging properties, which include grand hotels, full-service resorts, condos, inns and B&Bs.

For more information, call 1-800-367-3364 or visit the website: www.mtwashingtonvalley.org.

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