One of those days on Washington

vftt.org

Help Support vftt.org:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
30 degree temp drop in 4 hours, 110 mph gusts, sustained at 80 and -5 wind chill. Nice fall day ;)

30 degrees in 4 hrs. Crikey. That's wicked.

My wife and I drove through a storm front in WY last summer. Beautiful 80 degree summer day, then in less than 20 minutes it was 50 degrees and hailing. I watched the thermometer in the car just keep dropping and actually thought something must be wrong with it until I opened the window and it was indeed a different day. That was wild. Then the front passed, and we sat in a hot spring as the sun came out again and the birds chirped and it was a beautiful afternoon. I guess that's probably not happening up there on the rock pile...
 
And sandals. Make sure to wear sandals. A not uncommon sight on tucks.
 
Supposed to be beautiful tomorrow, though!

It was! Did Washington up Nelson Crag and down Tuckerman's/Lion Head. Never saw a gust of more than 15 mph and for most of the hike it was dead calm. I never even wore a shell. Put a fleece on over my base layers near treeline and then my puffy on Nelson Crag and that was all I needed (and I generally run quite cold). As if that wasn't good enough I had the summit to myself the entire 15 minutes or so I was up there. No one at the sign, no one on the observation deck, no one anywhere to be seen. Was surreal.....
 
And sandals. Make sure to wear sandals. A not uncommon sight on tucks.

Lots of unprepared people on Tuck's yesterday (shocker). Most people I have to say were at least well dressed but I did see a group in jeans, cotton sweat pants, sweatshirts without packs. At least three people I spoke to were going to take the train down (which was not running and of course brings you to the other side of the mountain so I never get that logic), a few were hoping to grab some food in the observatory (which was closed) and one woman I met descending Lion Head said they were going to stay at "the inn" half way up. When I advised her there was no such place she insisted she had read about it and it was open. No one I spoke to had spikes or headlamps (on Washington....in November). Several of these people I am quite sure were not going to get out of the woods by dark based on where they were and time of day it was. Was also nice watching all the people without spikes descend Tuckerman's and just trample all over the grass and fauna to avoid the ice on the trail.
 
Lots of unprepared people on Tuck's yesterday (shocker). Most people I have to say were at least well dressed but I did see a group in jeans, cotton sweat pants, sweatshirts without packs. At least three people I spoke to were going to take the train down (which was not running and of course brings you to the other side of the mountain so I never get that logic), a few were hoping to grab some food in the observatory (which was closed) and one woman I met descending Lion Head said they were going to stay at "the inn" half way up. When I advised her there was no such place she insisted she had read about it and it was open. No one I spoke to had spikes or headlamps (on Washington....in November). Several of these people I am quite sure were not going to get out of the woods by dark based on where they were and time of day it was. Was also nice watching all the people without spikes descend Tuckerman's and just trample all over the grass and fauna to avoid the ice on the trail.
I still can't find anything about how long it takes for the boat to get to the top.Mount-scenic.jpg
 
Top