A ridge of high pressure is building in from Canada today into tomorrow night. As a result, conditions will be mild and calm. Skies will be mostly clear through the period except for a few high clouds passing this afternoon from an upper level low. Thursday, a warm front will pass throughout the state moving south to north and bringing mixed precipitation through Friday night before another high brings milder conditions.
Observer, Mount Washington Observatory
We hit the trail at 6:11 from Appalachia, headed up the Valley Way to Mad Hut, after the traditional car spot at Crawford Notch.
The forecast looked great for this hike, with reasonable temperatures and
winds . Over the course of the night, "Guido's Revenge" had possibly
struck Cath, who was suffering numerous gastric phenomena as the result
of a hit-and-run by a Veggie Delight Pizza. Fortunately, she only
had to grit her teeth through the entire Northern Presidential Range before
recovering fully! Wotta machine!
I
wasn't feeling so hot myself - I was paying for sprinting around on Franconia
Ridge the day before while trying to get positioned for interesting images,
so I brought up the rear as we headed up to the hut. This seemed to establish
a pattern for me, being slow to get going in the morning but feeling much
stronger on the upper parts of the peaks, particularly when the lighting
was interesting.
We
dropped out packs at Mad Hut at 9:00 am, with the usual Stonyfield chugging
and pumpernickel pretzel gobbling. Much like the previous morning, the sun
was struggling to penetrate the thick clouds, but the temperature was much
more agreeable. With crampons or screwboots afoot, we set out for the first
summit of the day as Mt. Adams rime cloaked summit peeked out of the mist. |
 |
 |
|
Madison
Summit Cone
|
Madison
Ridgeline
|
Madison
Ridgeline
2
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Drewski
On Madison
|
Cath:
YEAH!
|
Madison
Summit
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Drewski's
Aura
|
Gulfside
Trail
|
One
on the Gulfside Trail
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Three
on the Gulfside
|
Three
on the Gulfside
2
|
Andy
Near T-storm Jct.
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Pack
Drop at T-Storm
|
Ascending
Adams
|
Summit
of Adams
|
The
climb to the summit of Madison was very pleasant, with good footing, light
winds, and great warmth-filled pockets of sunshine washing over us. We
enjoyed similar conditions on the trek over to Adams, where we met a hiker
struggling with the decision to climb to the summit from Thunderstorm
Junction in the on-and-off low visibility conditions present.
 |
|
Rime
Ice on Adams Summit
|
Hiking
along the Gulfside and dropping into Edmands Col, the cloud cover became
much thicker, and the nice sunny glow in the atmosphere was replaced by
a rather gloomy gray which would persist all the way to the cone of Mount
Washington. Other than this picture taken at the summit of Jefferson, my
camera was stowed until we were on the summit cone of Washington, where
the light show resumed. |
 |
 |
|
On
Washie's Cone
|
Near
the Summit
|
Klingon
City of Rime
|
 |
||
|
Summit
of Washington
|
Meanwhile,
Andy had bailed down the Jewell Trail, and after visiting a few choice
spruce traps along the way, found himself being overtaken by a sudden
irresistible desire for coffee, the likes of which are rumored
to be available at a nearby establishment that specializes in sending
folks up and down mountains in screeching mechanical devices for outrageous
fees.
Perhaps it was the miles of mountains he had put on that morning. Maybe
it was the alpenglow in his eyes since receiving
his divine aura on Madison. In any case, Andy was about to make a
serious mistake. He, like countless others before him, was taken in by
the siren's song of "FREE COFFEE*",
and before he knew it, there he was - on the wrong end of a diner worker...and
her boss.
"That'll be $9.00"
"What? for a cup of coffee and a donut?"
"The cup is $7.00"
"I don't want the cup, I'll put it back"
"Um, no...you have to buy it, hikerlips"
"You can't wash it?"
"No. Pay for the cup and get out of my shop....We don't DO hikers
here"
*with mug purchase, loser
Back on the trail, we made our way towards Monroe over mostly firm snow and ice, with a few drifts here and there. Clouds scraped the summit intermittently with occasional bright spots glowing in the valleys below. The snow conditions on the Hut were perfect for a mid-afternoon ascent onto the roof.
 |
 |
 |
|
On
to Lake of the Clouds
|
Hut
Baggers
|
Summit
of Monroe
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Crawford
Path
|
Towards
Little Monroe
|
Eisenhower
Summit
|
We tagged Eisenhower at about 5:20 pm and hotfooted it towards Pierce as the setting sun blazed through an opening on the horizon, painting the landscape with warm colors. A small party had done the section from Pierce to Jackson, but the trail was still pretty unconsolidated, so we used snowshoes for this stretch. Jackson was reached at about 7:30 pm, and after a few tumbles down some icy sections of the Mt. Jackson trail, we arrived at the cars, ready for a good nights sleep. Or at least a few hours of laying in bed. :)
Next up...Hale through the Bonds!
 |
 |
 |
|
Eisenhower
Summit
Glow
|
Eisenhower
Summit 2
|
Sunset
Exit to Pierce
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Pierce
Summit
|
Snowy
Tunnel
|
Jackson
Summit
|
All images Copyright Tim Seaver © 2006