Does Everything Have to be an Adventure?

One of the guys that's been coming to the gym since just about day 1 set a goal for himself to climb Mt Washington. Kirk's on the back end of his 50's and when he first came to the gym, the climb up the stairs was about all he could take, so tackling the tallest, nastiest peak in the east is no small accomplishment. Actually, climbing Mt Washington isn't an easy accomplishment for anybody regardless of age or fitness level. It's one of the most strenuous climbs around. Kirk has been training with us 3 days a week for the last 8 months and he's gotten incredibly strong. He's bounding up the 6 flights of stairs to the gym and he's doing 20+ box jumps on a 24" box in a 40 second interval. He works his butt off with kettlebells, medicine balls, and bodyweight exercises, side by side with guys and girls in their 20's. This guy is fitter than most people half his age. When Kirk, Alison, Danielle, Michele, Jake and I set out to hike Mt Washington on July 4th we expected a challenge but we weren't expecting it to be the adventure it turned out to be. But Mt Washington has a sign at the top that says "The Worst Weather in the World" for a reason, and even though it was July we really had to work to achieve Kirk's goal of summitting that day.

Like any hike in the Whites, it started out with a nice walk in the woods through sheltered forests and past falling waters. Fairly mild grades, but nothing too steep. Right about the time that Kirk commented "this isn't too bad", the trail turned upwards so that we were climbing about 1000ft per mile for the next couple miles. Pretty steep. The forecast called for possible

thundershowers and a little rain, but up until this point it was really just cloudy. The only wetness in the air was from the endless waterfalls that we were passing on the Amonoosuc Ravine Trail. Absolutely stunning trail. What we lacked in views due to no visibility from the fog and cloud cover we got back tenfold from the beauty of the headwaters of the Amonoosuc River and the never ending waterfalls. We got to treeline and put on our rain jackets since it was misty out, but left the rain pants in the packs since it really wasn't that bad. As we were to soon find out, this was a big mistake. We hiked up to the Lake of the Clouds Hut, which is a really cool AMC full service hut. We took a short break and I grabbed a cup of coffee. The coffee they use is called Java Juice. It's an extract that you mix with hot water. It was one of the most disgusting things I've ever tried. I'm thinking the "Java Juice" is some kind of Dung Beetle extract and the people at the hut use it to ensure nobody is hanging around drinking coffee. Because there's no way anybody is having a second cup of that crap.

The peak of Mt Monroe is about 3/10 of a mile from the Lake of the Clouds Hut so we decided to summit that first before heading towards Mt Washington. This is where the day became an adventure. We're above treeline and totally exposed at this point and it was getting really windy, maybe 30mph winds with 50mph gusts. Not a huge deal, at least it wasn't raining.... As we get within 30 feet of the summit of Monroe we start getting pummeled with sleet and some small hail. Initially I'm thinking, well if it's just sleet maybe my pants won't get wet and I'll have a chance to get my rain pants on when we get back down off the top of Monroe. There was no shelter anywhere and it was too nasty with the wind and weather to open up the packs and try to get the

rain pants on at this point anyways. We summit Mt Monroe, I do my customary peak handstand (which is really challenging when the wind is blowing 50mph and sleet is hitting you sideways in the face)

and we head back down, pants and gloves still dry since it remained sleet and hail to this point.. And then the rains came, and when it did, it came in drops the size of grapes. My pants soaked through in about 10 milliseconds, soaking my legs with the water running straight into my boots. Now we all have soaked legs, feet and hands as we scrambled back down Mt Monroe. The temps were in the 40's with the wind chill in the 30's. We got back to the Lake of the Clouds Hut in a much different state than the first time. There was a look of dread on a couple faces. Kirk found out that his jacket wasn't waterproof, and he also didn't have rain pants. But he did have a poncho, which I told him he should put on, secretly knowing the entertainment value of watching somebody hike up a mountain in 50 mph winds wearing a poncho :) Just kidding Kirk, I was honestly hoping it would keep you dryer.

We had Jake with us and he wasn't allowed in the hut, so Michele and I went down to a little emergency shelter they had under the hut and tried to dry off, hoping the weather would pass. It was decision time. The peak of Mt Washington was 1.5 miles away with another 1400 feet of climbing and totally exposed. There was just enough visibility to see from one cairn to the next, the sleet, rain and hail was being driven sideways by winds that were increasing to a sustained 40-50mph, the wind chill was in the 30's and our extremities were soaked. In these conditions we would be lucky to make the peak in less than an hour and a half. Easy decision, right? We should have turned around. But like I said to Kirk (half-jokingly), "Anybody can summit Mt

Washington on a sunny day.".. So we went for it. This was probably stupid, and given the choice again I'd probably turn around. But Kirk had worked really hard to achieve this goal, we were almost there. We had plenty of food. The observatory at the top was open and we could have bailed at that point and got a ride to the bottom if necessary. And as long as we kept moving I knew we'd stay warm enough. So off we went. We trudged along without talking. Step by step. We marched right past the sign that says "STOP. People have died of exposure in the Summer in bad weather. If there is bad weather then turn around.". We hiked with heads down because the sleet was stinging our faces if you looked up. Miserable conditions. But I was surprisingly upbeat at this point because it was challenging and I enjoy challenges. Plus I was still feeling strong and wasn't tiring at all. Would have been nice to have a nice leisurely hike up the mountain with spectacular blue sky views, but I enjoy being tested. And we can get views on another day. Today was about getting to the top regardless of what was thrown at us. After a good hour or more we finally got to the top. I turned around and I see Kirk sprinting with a huge smile on his face. How great is that? It's July 4th and it's like February and this guy is sprinting up the top of the highest climb in the Whites with a beaming smile on his face... People are getting off their tour busses in amazement as they watch the 5 of us plus a dog walking out of a cloud towards the observatory. They ask us "you didn't just hike up here did you?".

At the summit, goal completed (at least the part of getting up the mountain), Kirk is a very happy man despite the atrocious conditions we've been climbing in..

We hung out at the top for an hour hoping to warmup. I had a really good cup of coffee, but to be honest, compared to the Java Juice I had at the Hut anything would have tasted like cappuccino in an Italian cafe at this point. We were eating our trail mix, bananas, and energy bars while watching the tour bus crowd stuffing their faces with hot dogs and nasty, doughy pizza. People were in the gift shop buying those silly "This Car Climbed Mt Washington" bumper stickers.. So many people out there that need Dynamic Strength and Conditioning, so little time :)

The weather board in the observatory said that the winds were at 50mph sustained with 70mph gusts. It was raining and sleeting. We could have decided to try to get a shuttle to the bottom, but that wasn't going to be an option for me. And as it turned out it wasn't going to be an option for anybody else

either. After my customary peak handstand (which I couldn't hold for more than a half second because of the 70mph wind gusts) we headed back down. Warming up for an hour and then heading back out in this miserable weather was a real test. But the goal was to get down out of the exposed section as quickly as possible. So why we chose the Jewell Trail makes no sense to me now, (although I think it did at the time). An excerpt on the Jewell Trail from the AMC White Mountains guidebook: "...featuring a great length of ridge walking above the treeline with fine views, but this part is also greatly exposed to the weather and offers no shelter between summit and treeline. In bad weather, or if afternoon thundershowers threaten, it is safer to descend from Mt Washington via Lakes of the Clouds Hut and the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail, despite the steep and slippery footing on the latter trail."... Ok, so the weather sucks, afternoon thundershowers are possible, we want to get below treeline as quickly as possible. The guide says don't take the Jewell Trail. Let's take the Jewell Trail! In retrospect, we chose the Jewell Trail because the Ammonoosuc would have been really tricky in parts to descend in these wet conditions. So we chose exposure over technical difficulty because we felt the chance of injury was probably greater on the Ammonoosuc.

Going down was more difficult than going up. Above treeline it's all rocks that are covered with some kind of lichens that are wicked slippery when wet. So every step has to be taken carefully which slowed us down considerably. Plus, at this point we're starting to show signs of wear and tear. We've been out for about 6 hours, we're cold and wet because even with rain gear, when the rain is driven into you sideways at 70mph it finds a way under your gear, and there's no let up in sight. We're still trudging along with just enough visibility to see from one cairn to the next. We're coming down the Gulfside Trail looking for the Jewell Trail. We come across one sign that tells us we're going in the right direction, but when the Jewell Trail splits off from the Gulfside Trail about 1/4 mile past that sign, there is no other sign that tells us that. With our heads down, we continue following the cairns on the Gulfside Trail. I knew the book said that we would spend a good amount of time traversing a ledge but I started thinking we were spending too much time going sideways when we should have started heading down by now. As it turns out I was right, and luckily we only went about 1/3 of a mile past where we should have been. As we tracked back I started to see a line of cairns about 100 feet below us that we hadn't seen on our way past before because of the limited visibility and the fact that we were spending a lot of time with our heads down to avoid getting pummeled by the persistent sleet which hadn't let up since we came off Mt Monroe about 3 hours ago. There was no sign saying that the cairns below were on the Jewell Trail, but according to the map it had to be. So we got on it and stayed on it the rest of the way. By the time we got back to the cars we had been out 11 hours. Pretty exhausted and beaten down but definitely exhilarated. We had just climbed the toughest peak in the east in about the worst conditions imaginable for the middle of summer. And Kirk had just completed his goal! It was an incredible day and a great adventure and I'm really psyched that I was able to be a part of it.

All the best,

Kevin