Some guests ask more questions than others. Especially when it concerns hiking Mt Washington. The 6288-foot crown jewel of the northeast has a bit of a reputation. It’s one of those mountains that the more you read up on, the more it commands your respect if not stealing your peace of mind outright. Some guests like to hear some reassurance from us. Sometimes more than once if extra nervous. The overthinkers. But that’s okay. That’s why we’re here. We can field the questions, process the concerns, and spit out the required reassurance. Anyway, we joke that if we don’t bring our guests back, guides’ tips would drop to nothing and our excellent rating would go down the tubes.
We respect the mountain — all mountains — and are able to bend to its whims. We go as far as we can go safely, then we turn around. This is what we tell our guests and it’s what we practice. Half of them are headed up with us just to witness the horrific weather anyway so summiting is secondary. Our newest Redline Guide, Glenn Van Neil, knows this and was prepared to make some hard decisions, to turn if needed. They took a time out and, well, let’s let Glenn reveal what happens next:
When we reached the Lakes of the Clouds Hut it did not look like we would go any higher. Maybe Monroe, but even that seemed a long way away. Visibility was pretty poor, and the wind was gusting in the 40s, maybe 50s. Into the ‘dungeon’ shelter under the hut we went to get out of the weather. Another party was in there and we discussed the options. They departed unsure of which way they were going, we discussed Monroe, and our guest was in agreement but also wanted to see if we could go any high towards Mt Washington. We readied ourselves, opened the door, and stepped into a transformed landscape! Clouds, gone! Blue skies! The summit loomed above us. And we were off! Summit of Mt Washington, in winter, for our guest’s first winter hike! What’s not to like? —Glenn
