Mt. Madison

C

CanDo

Joined
Mar 10, 2006
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Hey Guys,

Climbed a mountain last weekend. Mt. Madison in the Whites, half a dozen miles or so from Washington. 5,300 ft (+/- 100) so pretty big for NH. We hit the trailhead at 1000ft or so.

Pictures are in mostly chronological order. Taken with my new Panasonic TS-1 which replaces SLR's I've broken for hard use places.

60mph+ winds above treeline. Excellent trip. I'm the one wearing a black jacket and light gray pants.

Here's a video I took at the summit (I learned that my camera takes 720p and youtube supports the format). You can see Wildcat Ski Mountain, Mt Washington, and Mt. Adams from Left to right in the video. Also gives you some sense of the wind up there. The summit itself though was actually not bad at all. Probably 30/40mph. There was a storm moving in though from the south, so along the southern ridge, it got really wild. For the big gusts, you had to anchor yourself down with the axe to keep from getting blown off.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00xLicq2Hoc


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+2 tell us more.Very cool scenery.Where exactly are the pictures taken?(What state)
Thanks
Dan'l
 
It's in New Hampshire, dboles. Great pics. Gotta love White Mountains, as they more than make up in attitude what they lack in altitude:thumbup: Two years ago, we encountered winds over 100 mph with windchills in the -80's.
 
Great photos!

The wife and I have been up there several times, never in the winter though.

what a great climb, amazing views.

Thak you for sharing.
 
CanDo said:
Climbed a mountain last weekend. Mt. Madison in the Whites, half a dozen miles or so from Washington. 5,300 ft (+/- 100) so pretty big for NH. We hit the trailhead at 1000ft or so.
Click to expand...
Cool!!! I love the Whites! Been through there several times on the AT, and consider it the prettiest section of the trail. Never been in the winter, though. :thumbup:
 
Thanks for the kind words.

Some more information: we started hiking at about 10am after a detour which made our car ride 5 hours, finished at 5p.m. We took the Valley Way Trail which is the most common trail used in the winter. About 9 miles round trip. We chose this route and mountain based on the predicted very high winds that day. We were only exposed to above-treeline winds for about half a mile each way. Madison is 5367 ft, making it one of the tallest mountains on the East coast. Definitely not one of the largest mountains in the grand scheme of things, but I certainly appreciate and respect the Whites.

In that second-to-last photo, John Quincy Adams is the "rockpile" in the foreground, with Mt. Adams just behind it.
In the third-to-last photo, Adams is in the foreground, and Washington, the highest peak on the East Coast is in the background to the left. Its summit is the one with the little rectangle on top. That's the Mount Washington Weather observatory where the fastest winds on earth record was held until the mid 90s when some typhoon blew through the pacific.

Not too sure what else to say. We hiked and it was thankfully very uneventful. My leatherman Wave was being borrowed by a friend and my BRKT Aurora was at home, so my CS Recon 1 came along for the trip. I really love this knife. It's big, angular, and looks kind of silly, especially with its black blade. When it comes down to it though, it has never, ever let me down. Cooking at college I often don't have the appropriate knives and tools. The Recon 1 opens up cans with ease then slices up vegetables and sharpens pencils without a problem. I've batoned plenty of kindling with it and all those "woodsy" uses we test our knives with. Performs well on all counts. I get a lot of "rambo knife" remarks on it, but they're mostly in good humor and I don't care about the ones that aren't. The huge handle gives control that's really unparalleled on other blades. Strong, too. The nice inch long pointy pummel which is probably intended to be used for strikes on people comes in handy hiking in the winter.

A couple of strikes make quick work of ice at the top of a water bottle. One of my hiking partners crampons filled up with ice and snow, making them heavy and useless (they have anti-balling plates to prevent this, but she didn't have any at the time). The butt of the Recon 1 was ideal for knocking the frozen mixture out of there and the problem didn't repeat for the remainder of the trip.

For anyone who hasn't hit the mountains in the winter, I highly, highly recommend it. The views alone make it well worth it. You just have to be very careful though. Have nothing to do with the mountains if there's any indication of bad weather and be prepared. In a SHTF scenario, it's not like survival as we usually think of it "I'll build a fire, find some water to purify, etc." doesn't happen. Instead, you just die. If you haven't gone before, find a local group to go with. The people at outdoor stores will often know of group hikes and organizations you can join to learn from.
 
Outstanding trip. Love the photos. Sounds like a very demanding climb.
 
Thanks for sharing such a great trip!
The summit looks VERY cold and windy! I can feel it through the monitor of my PC!
And what you said CanDo, I'm also among those who recommend mountains in winter.
There's so much fun in winter mountains!
 
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