They knew it’d be iffy. “Threading the eye of the needle,” Ryan mentioned. Could they make it? To navigate? To overcomes the winds? The lousy visibility? The cold? They tried but this shaken snow globe of a mountain turned them around, telling them to take it on on another day. It’s like that up there. It was sunny and nice everywhere else. Everywhere but there. The climb, led by Redline Guide Ryan McGuire, took place as one-day attempt. As a rule we don’t generally offer trips up the winter route without giving our guests first a day of training (so they look good up there and stay safe all the while), but this fellow had most of this own gear and some experience to go along with it on this mountaineering trip so the Winter Route was sent. Here, we’ll let Ryan tell it:
Today we set off to climb Mt. Washington via Lion Head Trail’s Winter Route. Great time was made getting to the base of the winter route. From there there was another team in front breaking trail in shin- to knee-deep snow, but we eventually caught up to them at treeline. With the forecast for today calling for winds at 45-60 mph with windchills of 25-35 below we made necessary clothing adjustments adding eyewear and covering up to limit exposure. At treeline we took the lead on the firm neve (Italian for snow -Ed) moving efficiently while battling the wind right in our face. After a brief stop taking shelter behind some boulders at Lion Head we stepped out to get the full brunt of the wind and snow. With already low visibility (1/16th of a mile per the forecast) we made our way to the Alpine Garden. The visibility only worsened with some of the worst I’ve ever experienced on Washington and the snow and wind filling in our steps as we made them. We made it up about half way up the South Eastern Snowfield before making the decision to turn around. It’s always a difficult call to make especially with a strong guest but ultimately the mountain has the final say if we get to climb it. –Ryan
Ryan also took some photos and video which we used to create this:
Well done, Team. Thanks for choosing Redline Guiding.