Mt. Washington - Seek the Peak 2012

this year i climbed mt. washington

i have very mixed emotions about the entire experience. as people seem to be in awe of how happy i look in this photo. that's me on the right with the skull cap and my sister in-law holly. our original plan was to be at the mountain by 6 am. we arrived closer to 7 am. we agreed that doing tuckermans would be the best route and after changing shoes checking gear and checking our mental state of mind we headed onto the trail a little after 7 am.

the ravine portion of this climb or "the river bed" was a fairly decent hike. lots of beautiful waterfalls, chipmunks and chirpy birds. if you have done mt. osceola this portion of the walk is not that difficult in comparison. we arrived at the fire huts around 9:45 with less than 2 miles to go out of a 4.1 mile accent. the weather was hot and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. we stopped and had a little refuel and a rest by the stream. it was by all means a very beautiful spot. had i known what was coming i would have stayed there.

admittedly i was fairly jacked up about the hike so far. we were making good timing. i felt good and the scenery was absolutely incredible. at the fire hut we had 1.7 miles to go. next up was climbing up the head wall.

as we made our way up this portion of the trail i was immediately reminded of how difficult this climb was going to be. as my eyes scanned up, up and up some more i could not help but feel like a little tiny ant crawling up a massive mole hill.

this is about half way up the head wall on tuckermans. the view was breath taking but the climb was intense. as we got closer to completing the head wall it became very narrow, very rocky and very steep. at one point i was laying on top of a rock, gripping with my life and proclaiming that i couldn't possibly come down this way. my legs were beginning to get tired and i knew it was going to be a struggle to get to the top. there were sections that were covered in water and mud and were very slippery. one false move and boom your done baby. it was at that moment one of the hardest climbs i've ever done.

a view of the head wall from the lower portion of the trail. 

another look....yes we climbed this beast.

after we completed this portion of the hike we still had 0.8 miles to go. it was ten minutes past 11 AM and i was shattered both physically and teetering on the cliffs of insanity. in one direction we had the boot spur tail that looked all happy and good.

and to my other side....

ummmhmmmmmmm.

during this portion of the climb something happened to me. follow the carins not kahhrins, curins, ruins or currens. follow that half way up scoot to the right and this is about where i lost my marbles. every last one of them came shooting out of my brain as if someone knocked my internal jar of sanity over and allowed it to just pool around me in front of EVERYONE. maybe it was exhaustion its hard to say. my breathing was fine, my legs were shot, my sister in-law was panicked about a land slide and i was scurrying up that hill for all i was worth. it was when i turned around to holly and was desperately trying to keep a grip on my rapidly fraying rope that i lost all control of my emotional being. i just burst into tear. i was terrified, i felt small and i had no right to be climbing that mountain with the minimal climbing experience i have. poor holly, i'm typically the one who is able to keep it in one sock and i left her to fend for herself. the only thing i knew at that moment is that i was not going down this mountain on foot. if i did it was certain death. my mental options; shuttle. if the shuttle was not available i was calling for a cab. if the cab was not an option i was calling an ambulance. if the ambulance was not an option i was calling charlie tango to med flight my ass off that mountain with claims of chest pains. didn't care about cost im worth it.

in the end we made the summit. the average time to hike takes 4 hours 15 minutes. we made it up in 4 hours and 30 minutes including stops. not to shabby.

i was asked if i would ever do this hike again. i'm still undecided at this time. it was by far the hardest thing i have ever experienced and i'm not sure mentally i would intentionally put myself through that again. but you never know.