It seems like hiking up Mt Washington has become more popular than ever as we’ve fielded so many requests this past month. These requests range from taking on the notorious Huntington Ravine to “any trail that gets me up there.” Being the “Rock Pile” is the tallest mountain in the Northeast and has such a compelling history — both grand and tragic — we can understand […]
A returning guest reached out and asked for a guide to lead a Franconia Ridge loop hike. On point for this adventure was Redline Guide Eric Hansen. Eric’s plan was to hike a clockwise but otherwise standard route covering four peaks, with two of them — Lafayette and Lincoln — being 4000-footers. What follows are a few photos revealing cool and interesting weather, good hiking temps, […]
We get a lot of people reaching out to us looking for a Mt Washington guide. Being it’s our tallest mountain, and with such a reputation for causing harm and delivering strange weather, it makes sense they don’t want to go it alone. Hiring a guide is smart, allowing not just the hiking experience, but learning about a number of related topics along the way. What […]
A lot of people develop an interest in climbing New England’s highest (and deadliest) mountain. Namely, Mt Washington, “Home of the World’s Worst Weather.” But interest isn’t doing. The two are mutually exclusive. The interest part can reside within a person for life, until they become doers, as this father-daughter team did. Leading was Redline Guide Rhonda Willette, and the words and images that follow are […]
Originally our returning guest wanted to hike Mt Katahdin on this trip but the itinerary was changed, mainly due to potential weather. Instead of their Maine Mission, the team — led by Redline Guide Debra McCown — decided on Mt Washington and a Southern Presidential Traverse to include Mts Monroe, Eisenhower, Pierce, and Jackson. Next up is a short summary from Debra followed by some photos. […]
In life we fear the unknown. This applies to this hike on a few levels, but we’ll let Redline Guide Rhonda Willette expose some of them for you. The short story here is that this new guest came to us having always wanted to hike Mt Washington but the unknown kept getting in the way of this trial. Until now. With a guide to lend support […]
A returning group reached out for a multi-day adventure. The plan went through a few iterations but we ultimately settled upon a Mt Washington hike as the main course, with a side dish of Monroe, and a couple AMC hut overnights at Lakes of the Clouds keeping it civilized. The group was comprised of a mix of youths and adults, the weather cooperated, sunsets and sunrises […]
The title of this post, Great Start, applies to both guest and guide in this situation. For our guest, a young man getting into climbing and mountaineering — a fellow working on his Terrifying 25 list — this was a guided entry on that path (through Huntington Ravine on this day) and we should see him come back in the future as he ups his game. […]
A new guest came to us looking for someone to hike Mt Eisenhower with. She’s working on her 48. During the planning part of this adventure a new summit was added for day two, namely Mt Hale. Leading this trip was Redline Guide Rhonda Willette. What follows is her two-part summary along with photos from both hikes. Wednesday was hot and muggy, the kind of day […]
A few folks out there will read the title of this blog post and know exactly what trail and on what mountain we are referring to. Some will tell you there are actually 19 switchbacks, others will say 16, or 21, or… well, doesn’t really matter. One hint for the geo-guessers out there still thinking about it, this mountain is on the NH 52 With A […]
A returning couple working on their 48 4000-footers wanted to break up their most recent hiking trip by grabbing Mt Isolation over a two day period, instead of one. To do this they reached their Wilderness tent site, lightened their loads, and proceeded to grab the summit. This was wise. They were really new to backpacking so there would be a chance of not getting a […]
If you were to ask a non-hiker what mountains we have in New Hampshire, a common reply might sound like this: “Um, there’s Mt Washington, and, um — are there others?” Being that Mt Washington is the tallest mountain in the Northeast, this stands to reason. That there is access by train and auto furthers this notion. Then there’s the mountain’s infamous weather and how some […]
