Mt. Washington hike. Nor'easter had dumped snow in the region late last week, and then there was clouds and flurries for a couple days. Driving to the trailhead, day started out clear. No clouds except on Mt. Washington, which had an interesting cloud cap along the ridge. Looked like moisture had moved in from the southeast and the mountains had trapped it there
Parked at the cog railway lot, which doesn't run during the winter. Owner wants to build a hotel on the mountain, and environmental groups and an outdoor group are fighting to stop it. There's already a rather primitive "hut" 1.5 miles south of the summit at 5000 feet with bunkrooms that holds over 100 people; his idea is something fancier, and one his train can take you to. The owner was at the parking lot and very eager to tell anyone who'd listen why the hotel was a great idea. He's pissed off at the greenies and thinks the AMC (which owns the existing huts) are hypocrites for trying to stop him — the AMC runs heliocopter to supply the huts at the beginning of the season. I'm mixed: as long as it's done carefully, it won't harm sensitive vegetation, though the summit already must be stressed with water & sewage. Mt. Washington isn't a wilderness, it's already crowded with people in summer. Rather just hikers there than lazy tourists but at least the tourists don't crowd the trails. Other guy talking to the owner thought "an Alps like mountain lodging" would be exciting. Owner said he wouldn't put the hotel right by the summit as he wouldn't want disturb the views. Felt like adding the lower down location he had in mind also had the benefit non-hikers could only visit the hotel by his train rather than use the auto road. Didn't get a chance to tell him that. Meh, the whole mountain turned into a tourist trap does sound like too much; the summit crowds are huge as it is. So the cog started charging for parking during the winter. I get it's his land and it takes effort to plow, but his parking fee was a passive-aggressive "greenie groups pissed me off so you get to pay". Here's the note:
view from the parking lot. Up the mountain:
down and across the valley
trail started in the woods with a few peeks of hill slopes but no mountain. Trailhead elevation around 2800 feet, this was around 3000 feet
view of the mountain
my phone forecast looked frigid, was this for 3000 feet?! or was my phone confused and giving the summit forecast?
current temperatures
after a short but very steep section up at about 4000 feet
surprised there was running water up here; maybe the thaw 2 weeks back helped there wasn't enough time to fully re-freeze? In 2015 when I was up here in early April everything was frozen solid
neat cloud shape. hope the clouds were moving in and out rather than lingering
this sign is at about 3 and a half feet above the ground in the summer
got windy by the top of the ravine. and the wind was blowing powdery snow into the ravine top. Trail was confusing to follow, I went off trail for a bit.
above the ravine is a hut closed for winter. I found white-out conditions. Met some hikers coming down, they all said they turned around rather than go up any summits because they didn't like hiking in a white-out plus it was chilly anyway. Was tempted to turn around, but there was plenty of daylight and I got all the way here, might as well go further and see how it goes. Observatory webpage showed a big temperature drop from 4000 to 5300 feet with the summit about the same temperature as 5300 feet. Guessing the cloud layer was all the same temperature and the drop was when I entered the cloud layer? Felt like it; soon put on another layer, a hat, and warmer gloves.
Looking towards Mt. Washington
and Mt. Monroe, clouds lifted a bit
Mt. Monroe was mostly in the clouds. Another break from the white-out. It felt windy closer to the hut, maybe it was topography, maybe I was heating up from hiking uphill? Only two hikers I met. One guy had an Australian accent. Or was it British? About the same, right?
most of the trail looked like this. Weather didn't get any worse as I got higher
eventually I discovered a tall cell phone tower
and there was no more uphill. Saw one staff (observatory?) and a group of Russian speakers who had hiked up the road. Long but less steep way up. One of them took a photo of me.
I circled around looking for phone service; 12°F (-11°C) and 18 mph winds (wind chill -4°F/-20°C). Some more summit buildings. Cafe buildings looks different than summer
closed for the season
use the vehicle just for the summit, dunno what the point of it is
started to cool down from stopping but I needed a break from the uphill. Cairns were easier to follow than I expected. Snow made descending more pleasant than ice or rocks though took a bit more energy. Quite loose for above treeline
was going to go up Mt. Monroe but it was getting a lot windier. Got about halfway up there 300 foot climb and the blowing snow and steep snow drifts were intimidating. Clouds were rolling back in and looked like snow flurries might start, wasn't going to get a view anyway. Felt like Monroe was windier than Washington; sharper topography there must have created a wind amplifier. It looked very dark and stormy to the east; didn't catch a photo. I was imaginging for this hike while I was atop the mountain and see the edge of the nor'easter in the distance; instead I got socked in clouds.
got lost entering the ravine. top of the trail isn't well-cairned. Used a hiking app to keep catching if I was on trail, didn't like that I was relying on my phone for navigaion, but worked great. some very deep snow
from the tracks, must have been on trail