Mount Washington via Tuckerman Ravine

Oct 13, 2023

I have hiked Mount Washington twice before and both times had great weather. During this trip, the mountain lived up to its reputation.

After sleeping through a very breezy night at Dolly Copp campground, we met at Pinkam Notch and assembled our group of eight ACC Ottawa folk; Bill, Scott, Tristan, Paul, Jamie, Judy, Katharina, and I. Our plan was to climb Mount Washington via Huntington Ravine, but decided that with the wind conditions as they were, the summit was likely out of reach. Given that retreating back down Huntington could be difficult, we changed our plans to Tuckerman and decided to hike up and see just how bad things could be.

The walk up the snow cat trail all the way up to Hermit Lake is fairly uninteresting, with the exception of a very pretty waterfall. We took a break on the porch of the ranger cabin before continuing on the Tuckerman trail, which is where the real hiking begins. I am sure it would have been spectacular if we had not climbed into a cloud at this point. Fortunately we were very sheltered from the wind in the ravine, and the hiking went easily, even as we encountered the first bits of snow at 1200m. Climbing over the lip of the ravine was to reveal the fury that the mountain could throw at us, though while the mountain did give a good blow, it was not overly concerning. It looked like a summit could be obtained today afterall!

Bridge along the cat trail

A pretty waterfall

Into the Tuckerman fog... and yes up is the correct way to get to the top of the mountain

It did get icy up here, so we put on spikes and then slowly made our way upwards, following the line of cairns as this was the only thing we could see in the fog. Scott, Tristan, and I were moving the fastest and took shelter behind a small rock wall to wait for the group to catch up. After a brief discussion with the others, we decided to split into two groups and we let the others go ahead while we sorted out some gear issues. Once mobile again, the three of us scampered up the last six or seven hundred meters of trail, passing the remainder of the group on the way. A surreal momement as we stumbled out of the fog onto a road and a snowplow scraped by at high speed, reminding us that this mountain is a little weird and objective hazards include getting run over by speeding vehicles. Not knowing exactly where to go from here, we simply followed the road upwards, and immediately found a long wooden staircase that led up to the summit area. We arrived just as the cog train showed up, so we jogged up to the summit sign before the horde took over. We managed to get a photograph from the first cog passengers and then were pleased to see that we could get out of the weather inside the visitor center.

Summit obtained!

Scott and Tristan set about drying out a little bit indoors, while I went down to see how the others were doing. I did not have to go far as they were just arriving on the roadway below the stairs. We all ascended to the top and then spent the next hour or so with a relaxed lunch in the summit building, along with about a hundred other people who had taken the cog up.

Reprieve from the weather... too bad the coffee shop was not open

We stuck together on the descent, choosing to follow the same route down as it would have the least wind exposure. Indeed, once back in the ravine, the buffeting winds and freezing fog conditions were calmed. Decending a bit further we emerged from the cloud ceiling and could see where we were going again. We even got a rainbow.

Rainbow on the decsent

Hermit Lake

Once back on the cat trail, Scott, Tristan, and I scooted ahead to Pinkham notch together with some great conversation. The others trickled down over the next little while, also having spread out at their own paces on the final slog, finishing the day at about nine hours. Scott and Tristan returned to camp for supper, while the rest of us went out for burgers at the brew pub in Goram.

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