Winter Mountaineering in the White Mountains of NH

12/27/07-1/1/08,  some of the coldest days and nights I have ever spent battling the elements in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Thankfully, all five of our climbing team had the right gear to do it in. We arrived that Thursday night stuck in what we thought was the parking lot, but ended up being the front lawn of the Lafayette campground. Even Jon’s trusty Pathfinder in all its glory was sunk deep into the snow bank, tires spinning, trying to free itself. My snow shovel ended up being the savior that got us out safely, however, there was always the option of the tow truck driver who watched us for a few minutes after freeing someone else and offered to pull us both out for $100. We passed on that, confident that our shovel and a few good men would do the job. We set up camp in 10″ of fresh snow and slept soundly as the snow continued to fall on the tent. The next morning we awoke, broke camp, ate a quick breakfast, and were on the trail by 10 am with our 40lb packs, ready to ascend 3,500 more feet. Carrying a load like that even over 4 miles of steep terrain isn’t easy, and quickly seemed to be the result of injury. Jason, had reluctantly gotten sick and stayed back at basecamp, while Jon, Zach, Tristan, and I moved up the mountain. Not even halfway into the ascent Jon’s knee started to bother him, the same problem last year he had on Mount Washington. Tristan seemed okay but noted that his hip was giving him some pain; something he hadn’t had problems with in years since he injured it in high school. Memories and flashbacks of my accident two years ago couldn’t be avoided as I listened to my friends describe their pain. Nevertheless we pressed on, determined to make the summit of Lafayette.

We passed only a few climbers that day, and none that could tell us of good news on the summit conditions. They described it as cold, cloudy, and windy with no views whatsoever. We made an executive decision to try and summit, even though the conditions weren’t optimal. The last group we passed on the way up had good news. “The clouds broke and we could see for miles, absolutely amazing,” one guy said, “we could even see Mount Washington and the Presidential Range”. There was hope, and with that we worked our way up the mountain further as it grew late in the day. About 500 feet from the summit, the clouds broke, and an awesome view of the Franconia Ridge came into view. Twenty minutes later, Zach and I were on the top of the world, gazing out at the higher summits, the sun bouncing off the sea of clouds below. It was truly an amazing alpine moment to glory in the creation and creator of it all. I was blessed with a moment to reflect on how beautiful it really was…

The next day we decided to rest, so everyone could recover from their soreness and be prepared for our next challenging summit, Mount Adams at 5800 feet. We ended up spending some time in North Conway at the climbing store, grabbing lunch, and enjoying the atmosphere of the small New England town. Zach and I made the obligatory stop at a small coffee place to enjoy the local brew. We went to bed early that night, 8pm I think, to get strength for the toughest day ahead.

Jon and Jason still weren’t feeling up to climbing the next morning so Zach, Tristan and I were on the trail by 8 to get a good start. The trail was a non-stop steep climb until we hit the sign for the alpine zone. We broke for a quick snack and put on our heavier gear to brave the elements. While were strapping on the crampons, another climbing group caught up with us and we chatted about their routes. Turned out they were going for a much easier route than we were, not tagging any summits and heading down the Valley Way Trail. We all agreed we weren’t going down the Air Line Trail, which we ascended due to the steepness and probable cause for accidents on the way down. The other climbers agreed the Valley Way was much more gradual, but still plenty of grade to glissade if we wished. We wished them well and headed up the rocky ridge covered in ice above the tree line. Sure enough, as the lady at the AMC lodge had promised, we were rewarded with beautiful views of the gullies and ravine on our entirely exposed ridge. We took our time as Tristan and I had little accidents tripping over our crampons causing gashes in our gators. We made the summit on Mount Adams as the wind howled, I’m guessing 40+ miles an hour with much greater gusts. We found a huge rock on the top to take shelter from the wind and ate lunch with haste. I was the only one who had something hot to drink I had brought. Steaming hot mint medley tea hit the spot on the summit, so I decided to share some with my fellow adventurers so they could get some enjoy it, too. We were rewarded with grand views of Mount Madison to the North, and clouds pouring over the Presidential Range between us and Mount Washington to the south. Again, God had given us a beautiful barren landscape to stand in awe of His beauty in creation. We’ll be back again someday; we’re already planning our next climb for Mount Katahdin in Maine…

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