Base Road / Clinton Road access this winter

[carole]

I received some interesting info in an email regarding the Base Road and Clinton Road for this winter. It seems the Base road will be plowed end to end and the Clinton road which has been usable for the past couple years will not be plowed. This affects usage of the Edmunds parking lot.

 

[Jim lombard]

Western approach

We went up the Mt Clinton road last winter and it was basically half plowed in places because half of the road is groomed for cross country skiing. Made it interesting if you met somebody coming the opposite way! If this is true I imagine many more people will climb Mt Washington from the Ammo Ravine trail this winter. Thanks for the info Carole.

 

[bandana4me]

I have heard rumors (you get what you pay for), that the cog will be operating this winter. It will be transpoting skiers up Washington. I have not heard anymore for awhile ( of course I don't ski, so I don't pay much attention to what happens in the skiing world) but that was the plan. That would be the reason that the base road would be plowed instead of the Mt. Clinton road.

 

[peakbagger]

It is interesting that this might occur as the Cog has been trying to get permission to plow the base road for several years, but the state would not give permission as the road would get trashed during spring thaw.

One of the intial reports of the skiing at the cog indicated that the skiers would board shuttles at the ski area and be shuttled up.

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

Mt. Washington Cog Railway Ski Trains

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

On a recent hike I heard, from someone who had called the WMNF, that parking would be allowed, for a fee ($5 as I recall) at the Base Station. I believe he also said that the WMNF had not yet decided whether to plow the hiker parking lot.

 

[darren]

Mt. Washington Cog Railway Ski Trains

From that website, "Each ascent to Waumbek consumes one-quarter ton of soft-grade bituminous coal and 300 gallons of water." They will be running 5 trips up per hour, 7 hours a day. This is almost 9 TONS of coal a day. UGH! The best part of being in that area in winter used to be not having to smell the stench and see the pollution from the Smog Rail. Now we are stuck with it year round.

That thing just needs to be shut down, period.

- darren

 

[Jim lombard]

Mohamed

WMNF had not yet decided whether to plow the hiker parking lot

We parked at the entrance to the lot last winter, it allowed for about 4-6 cars at the most. People parked at the Base station last winter after asking for permission and weren't charged that I know of.

Darren I agree with you. Nothing like hiking the beautiful Gulfside trail and then having to cross that coal littered terrain. Aren't they supposed to convert to oil instead of coal sometime soon?

 

[bobandgeri]

We have heard that they are still investigating the switch to coal.

FYI - the guys that work on the train normally stay in the cabins that are just past the main building - they are not heated so have had to find lodging in town.

We have also read that they are installing pipes for water/air to support snow making equipment part way up the track.

 

[trailbiscuit]

The "best" part about the Cog in the winter is that the accessible ski terrain consists only of the land next to the tracks. This will be the first winter, and should be an interesting experiment. Hopefully, it doesn't continue.

As far as plowing on Mt. Clinton Rd, a portion of the road is used as an important connection for the Great Glen to Bretton Woods Ski Marathon. It's the best connection to the Bretton Woods nordic system. It might also be a part of their nordic trail system all winter. Two years ago the connection was the Base Road, which had a large of number of very fast moving snowmobiles on it...not safe, and fairly scary. Skiing 50k is hard enough without snowmobiles barrelling at you at 45mph.

 

[sardog1]

I forget -- is it black klister for cinders, or is it just straight 30 weight motor oil?

 

[trailbiscuit]

I forget -- is it black klister for cinders, or is it just straight 30 weight motor oil?

All of the above, but I would also add some grape jelly and crazy glue.