[TR] Mount Washington - Route 1 2/15/2010

[JeffreyR]

Trip: Mount Washington - Route 1

 

Date: 2/15/2010

 

Trip Report:

Started at 8:30 AM with my dad under clear skies. Snow started pretty soon after leaving the road and was thick by 3500 ft. It had been pretty cold the previous night, so at times it was pretty icy, but anywhere the sun touched turned to slop.

 

We were not making very good time due to the slushy snow. At times the slush was over 15" deep not very stable. We were hoping that conditions higher up would get better, but they just kept getting worse. By 4000 ft we were postholing up to our thighs in places. We turned around at 4800 ft when the we felt the avalanche danger had gotten too high and we were tired of wallowing about in the slop. It took some pretty ungraceful moves to get up the steeper sections.

 

We were back at the car by 1:30 PM. It was overall a good day despite our limited success. There was no one else on the mountain and the views were superb.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gear Notes:

Ice Axe

Helmet

 

 

Approach Notes:

Big Creek Rd is clear of snow with the exception of a large patch about 100 yards past the lower Mt Ellinor trail head.

[Drederek]

Sometimes just getting out is enough, thx for the report.

[mountainsloth]

it seems that's a tough mountain to get good conditions. 3rd time was the charm for me.

2nd attempt was a bivy halfway up route 2 only to sleep in and have the Sun turn the snow into sketchy slop up the final ramp. We turned tail and fled in fear of a wet avalanche.

 

keep trying!