Mt Washington Auto Road-Does it Count?

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Stinkyfeet said:
Gosh, that would be ugly. Good thing our group was going more like 10 mph tops, had our ears open, and were "sledding defensively."
:D :D :D

BTW, we sledded the road 7-8 years ago and were unaware that it was not allowed...

Sue

It's not allowed?! That's lame. Is that just on the auto-road or the trails also? Not allowed on the auto-road, I guess I can see... but hope it's still allowed on the trails.
 
MTNRUNR said:
Never even got into "reading the fine print" in the rules as I though it was pretty simple...get to the summit and back from a trailhead. Anyone that would consider the parking lot NEAR the summit of Mt Washington as a trailhead would be...an idiot :confused:

Actually, it depends on what group association you are hike for. The highpointers simply seek to attain the highest point in each state regardless of the manner in which the summit is attained. For example, quite a few people regularly get Mt. Mitchell (North Carolina) by driving to the parking lot just below the summit.

Backpacker (I know there are mixed opinions of this magazine on the site) did a ranking of the state highpoints a few years ago and I was surprised to see where Mt. Washington ranked, till I considered how easily accessible the summit is via means other than hiking. Mauna Kea (Hawaii) even at 13000+ feet was rated easy because one can drive to 200 yards below the summit.

While I do ascribe to the notion that hiking a mountain means making a reasonable attempt at going from bottom to top under your own power, this does not mean that all "summiteers" subscribe to the same notion. As a result labeling someone who would use the parking lot near the summit as a trailhead as an idiot is a little short-sited.

Enapai (Dave)
 
From sea level FTFC

I've got a way to solve this whole problem. Start a new organization. The "From Sea Level 4000 Footer Club". For any summit to count, the summiter must obtain the summit, by walking only, starting from sea level where ever that might be obtained closest to the summit (Portsmouth comes to mind). Of course with global warming this will get easier and easier so if you want to get credit for being the most hardcore member of this new club get out there soon and start walking ;)
 
Ha! Ha!

I can see it now. Some old guy sitting on the porch, rocking his chair and saying "Back when I was in the mountains, we had it REALLY rough. Before Global Warming, we had to walk all the way from George's Bank. Kids nowadays, they got it easy. With sea level in Tuftonboro, why the mountains are barely a day's walk." :p
 
bcskier said:
For any summit to count, the summiter must obtain the summit, by walking only, starting from sea level where ever that might be obtained closest to the summit
Ankle bracelet required for verification :p
 
The whole rules thing seems almost silly. I was having a conversation with a 46er this summer on a hike & lying about being a 46er or a NH 4,000 member seems silly.

Most of your co-workers will think you're playing with less then a full deck for doing it & if you happen to run across a member & you start talking about your favorite summits or the ones you'd never go back to & why, you
ll be found out. A new Owl's Head Summit, the view from Zealand, the short walk into Allen, Prefering Old Speck over Katahdin, etc.
 
Originally Posted by bcskier
For any summit to count, the summiter must obtain the summit, by walking only, starting from sea level where ever that might be obtained closest to the summit

Last August we had an 18 year old colleague with us while hiking a section of the Continental Divide Trail. He had just completed climbing all 54 of the 14K peaks in Colorado. After we expressed amazement at this feat, and further discussion of the effort involved, we came to the realization that the trailhead for many of them was closer to the summit distance-wise and elevation-wise than many 4K mountains in NH. Of course the big issue for us O2 rich Rhode Islanders was the altitude - not a problem for a Colorado native.

On the point of "does it count", we all have to live with ourselves and there are many ways to pull a Rosie Ruiz. I was to the top of Washington 3 times before I wrote down the date, twice because the cairn was a mob scene and once because my 5 year old son was too pooped to climb down and needed a cog ride - but I had no doubt I would get there. I'm proud of the 4K accomplishment but being in the woods means a lot more than a patch or a certificate.
 
Karst said:
Last August we had an 18 year old colleague with us while hiking a section of the Continental Divide Trail. He had just completed climbing all 54 of the 14K peaks in Colorado. After we expressed amazement at this feat, and further discussion of the effort involved, we came to the realization that the trailhead for many of them was closer to the summit distance-wise and elevation-wise than many 4K mountains in NH. Of course the big issue for us O2 rich Rhode Islanders was the altitude - not a problem for a Colorado native.

On the point of "does it count", we all have to live with ourselves and there are many ways to pull a Rosie Ruiz. I was to the top of Washington 3 times before I wrote down the date, twice because the cairn was a mob scene and once because my 5 year old son was too pooped to climb down and needed a cog ride - but I had no doubt I would get there. I'm proud of the 4K accomplishment but being in the woods means a lot more than a patch or a certificate.

My younger brother, 6 at the time, had a similar situation. We "Cogged" it down and didn't count it until the next trip the following year. Still, quite an accomplishment for a five-year old!!
 
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