[at-l] The very intimdating MT. WASHINGTON

[m_factor@hotmail.com (Mara Factor)]

There is a reason why Mt. Washington is intimidating.

Winter hiking in the Whites is a very different animal than three season 
hiking and backpacking.  Climbing Mt. Washington in January is not the place 
to gain the experience necessary for safe winter travel below and above 
treeline.  You need different equipment (crampons, ice axe, etc) and 
know-how (avalanche, self-arrest, etc) to hike safely.

I would suggest you start by sticking with dayhiking some other more 
accessible mountains (Mooselauke from Glencliff for example) but you'll 
still need to be fully prepared.  If you aren't sure what you need to be 
fully prepared, and you insist on going anyway, please hook up with someone 
experienced and knowledgable who can make sure you have a good, safe day.

Places like IME even have guides you can hire or the AMC has a whole winter 
hiking program for (I think?) 5 days this January at Pinkham Notch.

Winter backpacking also ratchets the difficulty to a whole new level.  You 
need everything from a four season tent that can withstand heavy snowfall 
and/or high winds, to knowledge of how to keep your stove from melting into 
the snow as you cook, to knowing what type of stove and fuel operates best 
in extreme cold.  Redundancy is necessary and heavy packs are inevitable.

Once again, if you want to start winter backpacking in the Whites, it's best 
to start with someone who is experienced.  It's just too easy for a bad 
situation to get horrible in the conditions you can encounter up there.

All that being said, it's worth the extra effort required.  Winter is a 
great season to be out there.  Hire a guide and go!

Mara
Stitches, GAME99


>From: KellyGoVols@aol.com
>Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2001 01:00:30 EST
>
>...I'm going to visit her in January, and we would like to climb, hike, 
>maybe
>even summit, Mt. Washington.  Is this unreasonable?  If so, what would be
>good long weekend hike for us?

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