Week 2.5 Post-Trip Report

The following is posted on behalf of Joel Rhymer, Director of Fryeburg Academy's Outdoor Learning and Research Center:

While our trip up Washington was a great adventure, it was also a lesson in respect for the mountain and its weather. And it was a confirmation of the challenging, and sometimes difficult conditions that weather observers face in their work throughout the winter on the summit.

The original date for our expedition was Wednesday, January 18. However, several days beforehand, the forecast was filled with increasingly confident predictions of a strong winter storm for that day. In communication with the Obs staff, we began to consider the possibility that the trip would need to be rescheduled.

Two days before we were to go up, Brian and Will began asking us if we would be ready to travel a day early, as the Obs was moving the weekly shift change ahead one day to Tuesday in order to get the staff up and down before the incoming storm. But with the Monday Martin Luther King holiday, it was impossible to reschedule our plans at school, so Dylan and I asked if we could possibly go on a later date.

Our trip together up the mountain was then moved to Thursday, January 26, a week and a day later than we had originally planned. Conditions at the Auto Road base were beautiful that day with light winds. At 8:30 am, temperatures were in the mid-20’s and predicted to climb to near 40 that day with light clouds. After a gear check and briefing, we climbed aboard the snow cat to begin our climb up.

Along with the two drivers, we were accompanied by Brian Fitzgerald and Stephanie Turnbull of the Mount Washington Observatory, and two special guests of the Obs - a couple from Massachusetts who had won a trip aboard the snow cat as a prize in a fundraising auction. It turns out that they were both very accomplished climbers who had very interesting and engaging stories to share. Waiting at the summit for us were several others expecting a ride down that day including Sharon Schilling, President of the Mount Washington Observatory, and a film crew from the Discovery Channel.

By the time we reached 4000’ conditions along the road had changed dramatically. We were now mostly in the clouds, and winds had picked up considerably. We got out of the cat at the elevation marker and took a set of weather observations and continued slowly up the road. At around 4600’ feet, road conditions became very tricky, and there on the Eastern side of the mountain the way was blocked by some seriously high snowdrifts formed by strong winds flowing over the summit during the past 24 hours.

One of the drivers had remarked to us earlier that coming down from the summit the night before, they had encountered these drifts and they knew they would be potential trouble going up the next day. After several attempts to negotiate the drifts, the drivers decided in the interest of safety and time, it would be better to abandon the plans to go to the summit. It not only meant that we would not reach the top, but also that those who were expecting a ride down would have to wait at least another day until the road could be cleared.

We still made the best of the situation, however, and all the passengers were allowed out of the snow cat to walk a portion of the road. Conditions were quite pleasant, really, with winds gusting no more than 25 mph it seemed. We were below the cloud cover, and we could see the valley easily, especially to the north and northeast. As we were walking, I decided to test a Facebook “Live” link. Along this eastern portion of the road where one can see the Auto Road base and Wildcat Ski Area, cell service is strong. I was able to quickly establish a Facebook Live connection and I began broadcasting as I walked up the road in the snow and wind. It was exciting to see how many people quickly began to interact with me on line. I broadcast for about 9 minutes, and included a talk with Brian about road and weather conditions. Brian estimated the snow drifts at about 8-9 feet, and he demonstrated for our audience by climbing on top of them. It was also rewarding to see the number of views my video received later and encouraging to see the positive comments from many viewers. I urge other Arctic Wednesday participants to explore the use of Facebook Live while on the mountain as well.

While disappointing not to achieve the summit that day, we were all familiar enough with the mountain to know that one does not test it when conditions are likely to be dangerous. As the driver said, “The mountain will always be here, and we can come back another day.”

Finally, check out the Facebook Live video here: https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Frhymedogg%2Fvideos%2F10158126049850402%2F&show_text=0&width=560