We spend decades living large in the years of our youth but we do age, and as time passes that aging becomes more and more apparent to us. Yet, we yearn for the glory days, hoping for more of the same. To continue, to carry on, to reach for and meet our limits. This can be hard; a challenge to us. It doesn’t get easier, as they say — and as we begin to realize for ourselves. We learn that what was easy isn’t as easy thirty years later. This sums up the situation at hand: a guest reaching to us out hoping to re-live his past mountaineering days in the gullies on Mt Washington. Self aware, our guest knowing he’s not as fast or as strong as he once was, wisely decided to hire us, to lend a hand, to provide backup, to remind him of things he may have forgotten. It’s all about having peace of mind and staying safe. For this trip, taking on Central Gully in Huntington Ravine we put Redline Guide Debra McCown on the calendar. After the trip she provided the following summary and photos…
This guest said that he’d climbed every gully in the ravines… 30+ years ago (or, as he described it, ‘last century’). He asked to visit Mt Washington again for some mountaineering — and even bought new boots for the occasion. I suggested Central Gully, a classic snow climb with a small ice bulge, as a good place to walk down (or, in this case, up) memory lane in the heart of Huntington Ravine.
He began the day by hiking up beer for the caretaker of the Harvard Cabin — a tradition from back in the day — and looking to see what has changed in the cabin; which is still a popular place for climbers to stay.
We then headed up into Huntington Ravine at a slow and steady pace, walking up the fan and past Pinnacle Gully to reach Central. He remembered soloing the route in his 20s — but, this time, was happy to have a belay coming up the ice and an anchor to rest at before continuing up the snow. As we neared the top, we were showered with spindrift, and we topped out in classic Mt Washington wind and blowing snow. He stopped often along the chilly walk across the Alpine Garden Trail, taking in the unique views he remembered.
We then descended via the Lion Head Winter Route, which he remembered as much easier back then than now and possibly having been moved since the 1990s.
It was a long day — ‘much longer,’ he said, ‘than a trip like this would’ve taken back when he was young’ — but it was also a day full of stories, memories, and enthusiasm. —Debra
