Crazy weather stories

[mlawtone]

A few years ago a friend and I were hiking Mt. Monadnock in NH, on a clear, late summer day. Shortly after reaching the bare summit, a freak hailstorm broke out and began pelting us and everyone around with marble sized hailstones. (it felt like being stung by a bee over and over) Many children(terrified by the hailstorm) were crying hysterically as their parents tried their best to huddle over them and protect them from the hail, so you can just imagine the scene... my friend and I bolted for treeline (about 300 feet below) covering our heads and scrambling down as fast as we could. By the time we made it to treeline the hail had pretty much quit, so we stopped to rest. After catching our breath, we both had a good laugh (everyone on the summit was OK, despite severe welting!) For me, that was a close call and I have to admit I was scared! Does anyone have any bad weather stories or close calls they'd like to share?
Matt

 

[oldfogie]

I was on Mt. Marcy one day and the whole west side of the mountain was alive with dust devils. The weather was good. They lasted for several hours and were quite powerful when one went over you.

 

[TCD]

I got knocked on my a__ one day by a wind gust on the balanced rock summit of Pitchoff.

Many here probably hiked in the freak May 17 snowstorm in the Adks a few years ago. I was on Wright; 6" of fresh snow on 5/17. People were heading up in sneakers, and turning around.

 

[patrickbrusil]

This past memorial day weekend I was about 1/4 mile form the summit of Mansfield and the sky opened up and rained for about 2 hours. There were a couple of times when some real loud thunder boomed right over our heads (at least it felt like that). We did not see any lightning but what was really amazing was that the storm was directly on top of Mansfield - we could see Mooseilauke and the white mountains as well as Lake Champlaign and the Adak's all looking glorious in the sun. It was surreal......I'm not partial to any particular religion but it was almost as if heaven was opening and looking down.

The rain made a steep, exposed decent down the maple ridge trail quite hairy and I nearly lost it a few times but yet another great adventure.

 

[oldfogie]

Was camped at Lake Colden in the Daks. Woke up to a snowstorm raging outside that was not in the forecast. Dumped 24" on a 4' base. OK.. now for the embarrassing part ... I didn't have snowshoes. I was younger and so naive then and really, honest, I didn't know about the rule or the need for them. Duh. My brother-in-law was with me. We spent the next 18 hours post-holing back to the Loj. From that day on he has refused to go hiking with me even though he loves the outdoors. Now I take my snowshoes if there's just 2" on the ground.

 

[weatherman]

Adams 7/19/98

Well, it may not be too crazy, but since it was 7 years ago today, I'll tell it. 34 degrees, rain and sleet, winds gusting to 104 mph on Mt Washington, my brother and I climbed Adams. Didn't have windpants... it was summer, silly! Well after almost plunging into Madison Gulf being pushed by the wind a few times, we managed to get ourselves down to Madison Hut. After an hour and a liter or so of hot tea, I was only shivering harder and harder, so we decided that our plan to climb over Madison and down to Osgood was neither smart nor possible. I only later realized that I managed to get all the "umbles" in mid-July without even realizing it. Ah hates hypothermia. Now I pack heavy above treeline no matter how hot it's "supposed" to be.

 

[TMax]

Several years ago I was hiking in the Bashakill when very quickly the sky turned black and it started snowing, creating white-out conditions. As I was trying to skeedaddle back to the parking area, the sky opened up with incredible lightning bolts and intense thunder. Within moments the trail was indistinguishable from the rest of the ground. Thankfully I didn't have far to go. And was I grateful I wasn't on Mount Washington!

 

[KayakDan]

Memorial Day weekend 2 years ago-it was snowing at the Osgood Platforms. I wasn't all that surprised-after all it's the Presi's,but the look on some faces that day was priceless! Next day it was 75o. Go figure!

I have seen it snow in all but 2 months,July and August. Stood in a snowfield in Alaska on July 4th,but that doesn't count-it wasn't actually snowing. I think it's gonna be really expensive to see snow in those months!

Hardest I have ever seen it snow was Sept 5,1979, 20 miles North of Akureyri,Iceland-it must have been an inch a minute! That was also the closest I have gotten to the Arctic Circle,about 30 miles.

 

[Tom Rankin]

I have seen it snow in all but 2 months,July and August. Stood in a snowfield in Alaska on July 4th,but that doesn't count-it wasn't actually snowing. I think it's gonna be really expensive to see snow in those months!

All you need to do to see snow falling all 12 months of the year is hang out on Mt. Washington long enough. Last summer, there was snow falling in late July and/or early August.

 

[Trekkin]

While on a backpacking trip in Glacier Nat'l Park we got hit by a thunderstorm at night that penned us in on 3 sides. You could see and hear the lightning rolling in, and by the time it arrived everyone's hair was standing on end (we were all in our tents, on pads) and you could feel the percussions from the thunder. It was exciting, and terrifying at the same time. We were at 10k or so, approximately. That same trip, while hiking in to "Hole in the Wall" (a hanging cirque that's an extremely popular backcountry destination) at approx. 2p.m. a NASTY wind started to blow, temps dropped from low 70's to low 40's, then high 30's......it was August.

Also got caught in an late morning hailstorm while crossing a pass in Rocky Mtn. N.P. - highpoint of our trek - we were at 13.5k, and out of range of any cover. Hailstones the size of peas, which hurt enough. We covered the 2 odd flat miles back down the pass in under 30mins (party of 4) with pack weights of 40-65lbs.

The odd thing is......while I may have been scared feces-less during, I and my tripmates remember these occurrences very fondly.

 

[Pete_Hickey]

A couple years ago, I was on an icy ledge, when suddenly gravity started pulling me down, then it pulled me right over the edge. Fortunately a few rocks along the 30 foot fall, helped me fighting the forces of gravity, and I got away with only a few broken head-bones.

Ever since then, I'm always wary of hiking in places with strong gravity.

 

[woodstrider]

Everytime that I have been hiking in the Rockies there is an afternoon thunder shower. When you are at like 13,000 feet, you can feel that thunder vibrate you sternum. The lightening blinds you.

I like that scene in "Forest Gump" when he describes the raining going up, not always down.

 

[Pete_Hickey]

...... the raining going up, not always down.

Ahhh, you just reminded me of the time I was out in a rowboat fishing. It was raining so hard that you couldn't tell where the lake ended, and the rain began. The fish were confused, too. We saw fish swimming 3 feet over our head.

 

[NewHampshire]

Petes story reminds me of the time my Uncle and I were fishing our favorite hole in Concord. We got out on the water when all of a sudden a wall of water appeared out of nowheres. Half the pond was situated under a torrential waterfall........so bad you couldnt see the other shoreline. We rushed to put on ponchos while on the other half of the pond.......which was crystal clear blue skies and a bright shining sun, even a few high level clouds!!!!!

 

[Steve-o]

7-29 2000. ADK'S
A couple buddies and I hiked in from upper works about 8 mi.
Set up a base and did day hikes for a couple days.
The weather was so good, we had hiked all the peaks we set off to do.

We had an extra day to relax.
So we thought we might take a two mile hike down to lake colden and check it out.
We stopped for a swim on the way down and then set off again to lake colden.
about a half mile before we got there ,I started to get a little chilled, so I changed into my dry clothes.
Two minutes later, a down-pour came I will not soon forget. I was totally soaked again.
We headed uphill back to camp and found that the easy, rock-hopping, river crossings were now raging with anger.
We had to make two river crossings, by buskwacking , and finding a blown-down trees to shimmy across.

When we got to our camp, it was a total wash-out.
So the group decision was to pack -up all our wet gear and head out.

After a quick bite to eat, we headed down to the first difficult river crossing, where we ran into four people, who were holding hands trying to ford this torrent.
They were all waist deep, walking in front of this blown down log.
I watched the girl last in line get semi sucked under the log. good thing the guy holding her hand pulled her out.

Now it was my turn, I was'nt going to take that route.
I found a nice log to shimmy across.
With a full, wet pack, I deceided to huck to my poles across the river.
Well, one of them made it. $60 bye-bye.

After that was just a blurr.
I remember making another intense river crossing, then it was time to don the headlights and hike through 6 more miles of fresh adk mud.

We got back to upper works around 2 am.
exhausted, we ( three grown men ) Tried to sleep in a toyota like frame.
for four hours.
Then we drove our 4:20 home.

Oh yeah, it was my birthday too.

I thought flash-floods were more of a western thing.
Now I've seen what mother-nature can do.
It was a learning experience and I will alway's try to take the necessary percautions in the future.

 

[Butch79]

Absolutely gorgeous August day heading up Wright Peak, warm and sunny, hardly a cloud in the sky. We arrive with the summit all to ourselves, drink in the view, then sit down around that little natural amphitheatre at the top for a leisurely lunch. Three opt to just lounge there for a bit, another buddy and I decide to search for aircraft wreckage. After a few minutes we locate a chunk the size of a car door, and head back up to the summit to report our discovery. As we get close, we see what our companions, seated with their backs to the rocks, don't see: a lone, roiling, purple-black thundercloud devouring the summit of Marcy and heading straight for us like a freight train. We sounded the alarm, they popped up like prairie dogs to see what was coming. Took us less than a minute to gather up our food and gear, but just as we wheeled away from the summit it was on top of us, sudden 50mph gusts of wind that almost blew us off our feet, horizontal rain, a lightning flash somewhere just behind us -- we ran full tilt for tree line, variously unbalanced and assisted by the violent tailwind, and of course just as we reached treeline, the rogue storm passed. The air stilled, the sun shone... and every bloody blackfly between Wright and our Marcy Brook campsite had been awakened and become aroused with mad bloodlust. I'll take a lightning storm on a High Peaks summit before being chewed to the bone by a bazillion blackflies.

Happy trails --
Uncle Butch

 

[woodstrider]

I love all the "big fish" stories.

I was once doing the rare group backpacking trip and on the last day we had real lousey weather. Raining and overcast and thick soupy fog. The leader offered the option of going over Stratton Mt (Vermount AT) or around. Everyone but myself went around and when I rejoined the group at the cars I was ribbed alot about getting great views. The thing of it was- about 100 vertical feet from the top, it was clear! I mean the sun was shining and it was all cloudless blue skies. The top of Stratten Mt poked above all the fog and the inverted cloud layer. I climbed to the top of the lookout tower and had a view to forever of the top of the cloud layer that was sitting in all the valleys and on top of all but the tallest peaks- and there were not a lot of thosethat did stick up high enough to show! But, no one believed me. They thought I made it up just to make them feel bad. It still gives me a laugh today as I think back on that trip- how I was the only one of the group to have gotten any sun on that entire trip.

Living well is the best revenge!

Sorry for all the smiley faces

 

[oldfogie]

I was climbing Macomb Mt one fall and it was a lousy day, very overcast with a pea soup type fog - couldn't see anything 10' in front of you. I figured it would be a wasted day, but at about 3800' by head suddenly stuck up through the cloud into perfectly clear sky. I mean the boundary was almost immediate. sit down -- in the fog / stand up -- blue sky. Some kind of temperature inversion somebody told me. But it was so unusual. I marveled in it for a half hour before I continuing on.

 

[RGF1]

The Storm that should not have happned

It is 2 Am I look out side not a cloud in sight the stars are glittering and the moon casting a surreal light. Great time to drive over Independence Pass and climb La Plata ( it means The Silver peak in English )
I make it to the trail head on RT 82 at 3 am I notice a few very high thin cloud from yesterdays wild storms., passing rapidly over head I set out with my head lamp on the 4x4 road to the trail I see elk , mule deer and even two bears munching in open areas. Too bad it is to dark to get a good photo.
The excellent CFI trail follows the east bank of a creek to a beautiful hanging valley
The clouds seem to come and go in Co this usually means a good morning with fast building noon and after noon storms it is only 5 am so I move on up the steep 45 degree sloope on switchback . I stop at 12,000 ft to take this photo http://community.webshots.com/mypho...D=382972685&photoID=387064735&security=tLDBKo

Moving on to the 13,000 ft ridge crest the clouds obscure what is usually a stunning view of Ellingwood Ridge a classic route. Knowing the easy Class 2 ridge well I figure the clouds are just passing and I will have some great early AM views and photos.
Wrong I reach the 14,336 ft. summit in clouds I get a very brief glimpse of the Three Apostles then I se sparks in the air and a tingling sensation . I know what is about to happen. A blinding Flash and deafening boom simultaneously send me to the ground I run back down the ridge hail , snow and grauple Sting my face driven by a wild 50 –60 mph wind making it hard ot even stand u[p as I reach 13,00 ft the whole terrifying storm lets up and the sun is coming though the clouds. I think now that should not have happened!
I have no desire to go back up the easy mile or so to get the views All I want is to get down I see more clouds building up to the South west ( the direction they come from in CO )
At the 11,00ft valley I meet some hikers who are surprised to see me. They are also surprised by the violent storm that should not have happened so early. They look warily at the towering clouds to the Southwest and cautiously climb up the steep slope. I stop to relax listening to the chirping pikas and watch a elk across the river. I take a photo. The sun is shinning now but I know that soon enough the storms will be back.
I head Back to Snowmass for a meal and relaxing I have had enough for the day. A cold beer and a great Mexican meal at Margaritas while watching a storm roll in is rewarding in a way . Know full well what is like up high this is not the first time I have been surprised by a early morning storm above 13,000 hopefully the last though.
Why is it that once you get down the weather clears up after a storm ?