Climbing a mountain can be tough. And even getting here can bring its own challenges if you live on an island and depend on a ferry. That’s what happened with one guest — his first attempt to get to us was thwarted by rough seas and large swells. We rescheduled him, of course. On his next try he worked around more rough weather boating by hopping onto the ferry a day early to better ensure he’d actually get to us. Unfortunately the mountain weather wasn’t going to allow him to summit Mts Monroe and Washington the way he had hoped. As per the norm, we try anyway knowing that a summit is unlikely — going as far as we can safely go. On the east side of the range this often results in stopping at treeline or calling Lion Head the summit-of-the-day. On the west side it often results in stopping at the boarded up Lakes of the Clouds hut, or just before it. We turn to face the prevailing wind a lot on such days to make sure getting back is doable.
That’s what happened on this trip. Mt Washington was going to be out of the question but Monroe got a maybe. In fact, even the hut was a maybe on this crazy day. Leading this was Redline Guide Brian Wasiewski and he did offer an alternate mountain. A lot of ideas were floated, and our guest seriously thought it over but decided trying would be a worthwhile endeavor in of itself. After all, it’s not everyday someone can walk up a mountain and experience some of the worst weather imaginable. Some people, in fact, relish this. It’s one of the reasons people training for 8000-meter mountains often come here to prepare.
Being new to hiking the winds were a bit shocking to him, bordering on type two fun or worse, to be sure, but according to Brian, by the time he and our guest checked back in at the end of the day, his stoke level for his next visit was already on the rise. It’s not surprising. This experience will last a lifetime. Hereinafter foul weather will be compared to this incredible day. Following this text are a few photos of the experience. Missing from the visuals, of course, is the noise of the wind roaring like a jet engine strapped to your back. Awesome try!
