Heading North

Every winter since we've met (going on six years now), James and I have heading up to the White Mountains in New Hampshire to climb Mount Washington. It has always been a special place for us and it is where we got engaged in December 2008. At 6,288 feet, Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeast. The weather on the mountain is notoriously erratic, even in summer. Mount Washington once held the world record (still the Northern Hemisphere and Western Hemisphere record) for directly measured surface wind speed, at 231 miles per hour. Winds on the mountain exceed hurricane force on average 110 days out of the year. Mount Washington in winter is seriously not for the faint of heart.

Mount Washington, New Hampshire ~ James on the mountain, January 2007

Engaged on Tuckerman's Ravine, Mount Washington, Dec. 27, 2008

This weekend, James and I will head north to attempt our sixth winter summit of the mountain. We haven't always been successful at reaching the top, sometimes the weather is just not in our favor. To ensure the best chance of a successful summit, this year we're trying something new - camping on the mountain. By splitting the hike into two days we get a jump on the weather (which tends to be worse later in the day) and we'll get out ahead of some of the day trippers. James has participated in extreme winter camping before, but this will be a first for me. And after checking the forecast for this weekend, it doesn't look like Mother Nature is going to make it easy on us. Friday's highs are only in the teens with lows around zero. Saturday is even colder with lows in the negative digits. And that's without the wind chill! Holy-mole is it going to be cold!!! Something tells me all those nights warming my toes by our wood stove will NOT help me get through Friday night. Stay tuned, I'll be sure to post updates early next week.

Outlook not so good.