My Snowkite Season Finish at the Home of the World's Worst Weather.

Okay this session isn't my usual search for speed but my schedule and the weather FINALLY worked together and I managed to get one more day of riding in on the summit of Mount Washington.  Highest peak in the northeast and home of the highest wind ever observed.  (well, up until recently anyway)

Wikipedia has good info on it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Washington_(New_Hampshire)

Our winds were a lot easier.

I've been waiting over a month to get a chance to hit Washington.  Everyday that the conditions were right I had to work and every day I had off the winds were blowing the wrong way or too hard.  Mike Elliott and I were going to head up a few weeks ago and backed out at the last minute because of a weather change only to find out our friend Mark Acitelli from Colorado bagged a session on the west side of the mountain. We usually have NW winds which works for the west side but the west side rarely has enough good snow to make it worth heading up.  This season was different and there was a ton of snow on the west side.

Anyway like I said I've been waiting for a month.  Frustrated by the uncooperative weather and my work schedule I've been spending my days relearning how to ride my bikes after taking a year off with the wrist fusion. All the time watching helplessly as the snow slowly disappeared from Mount Washington's summit.  I know a few people like Mark who have schedules that are even laxer than mine had been getting up there and that just makes it even more frustrating. It was killing me.

Most of what is left of rideable terrain is on the eastern side of the mountain.  Tuckerman's Ravine which is a popular tourist backcountry ski location still has a fair amount of snow in the bowl and even though the upper snowfields that stretch from the top of Tuck's to the top of Huntington Ravine had melted out there was still a substantial patch of snow atop Huntington. 

Mount Washington from the East

A patch about 250-300 feet long but about a 1/4 mile wide. Enough still to ride on but pretty tight in the big scheme of things.

I got word that they had opened the auto road to the summit last week.  I watched the weather every day since and finally last Sunday the conditions looked as good as I could hope for.  East winds would be perfect but the forcast was for SW blowing 15mph turning S in the afternoon.  Not ideal but usable.

Molly had a voucher for a free trip up the auto road that she scored at the 24hrs Of Great Glen race about 8yrs ago.  I called up Mike and Mark to see if they wanted to head up with me first thing Sunday morning.  Mike was committed to a belated Mother's day gig so he was out.  Normally I wouldn't condone lying your way out of such a thing but we're talking snowkiting in late may in New Hampshire on Washington.  With the abilty to shuttle up.  These opportunities are RARE.  

But Mike's a good kid and he hung with his Mom for the day.  It must have killed him hehehe.

Mark

Mark on the otherhand was in.  He met Molly and I at the house at 7:30 sharp and we loaded the Oddy and headed up.  Molly came with to shoot photos and hang out even though she couldn't ride due to her recent wrist surgery. 

We got to the gate house on the auto road at 8:00 just after they opened.  Now I'm not a nazi when it comes to "earning your turns".  Though I think you appreciate the expirience more if you work hard for it.  I at the same time, have no more problem with loading up all the kites we have and driving to the launch area on a mountain than I do on a lake or field.  Again this is a rare opportunity and I'd be a fool not to take advantage.

The Auto Road

We got to the top about 8:20 and were greeted by punchy 20mph+ winds.

The trail to the snow looking south

Huntington Ravine and the snow we rode

Riding on a ridgeline can be tricky because the wind often accelerates over the top but comes in light at the bottom. Like the top edge of an airplane (or kite) wing. And when you have jagged rocks at the top to crash into if you get lofted or a deep ravine several hundred feet deep to tumble down into if you get dropped the whole expirience feels a little uncomfortable.

Huntington from above

Inspite of the higher than forecasted winds I was pumped to finally be up on the "Rock Pile" as it's called and totally ready to get on the kite.  Mark and I were getting out gear together and Molly went off ahead to check things out and take some pics.  I noticed something odd on the ridgeline to the northeast of our position.  For a moment I tought I saw ears, big ears.  Like the kind you see on a moose. 

"Hey, is that a moose?" I thought  aloud as it dissapeared.  What the hell would a moose be doing way up here?  Then I saw it again.  Comming around the ridge and crossing the road and sure as hell it was a moose.  A young one tired and running right for us.

And I mean RIGHT FOR US.

I held my ground (where was I going to go?) as he ran around me and towards Mark.  I didn't see it happen but as the moose approached Mark he let out a uber loud "YEHAAAA!" and jumped onto the back of the moose like a rodeo cowboy.  It was awesome! All the bucking and growling!  Okay so I made that up.  It ran by him as well but if he did "Yehaaa!" and jump on the the moose it would have been awesome. He shot the above pic so that's cool. (I guess.  Not as cool as riding it though.)

The moose proceeded to head down the trail towards Molly.  We waited to hear her scream as it was carried over the ridge by the wind but no such luck.  She's seen moose before.

Molly on summit

After that fiasco Mark and I headed down to set up.  The snow was super creamy and the winds had settled just a little.  The weather was beautiful and the views, though a little hazy, were awesome.  A few skiers showed up and made some runs but not nearly as long or as fun as we were getting.  I was on the 12m Charger and to  the best of my knowledge this is the first time a Peter Lynn ARC has been flown on Washington. Mark took out Molly's Apex 2 and had a short but pretty heavily powered session.

Charger 12m

I really love flying up there. The views are stunning and you're always on an incline which adds a certain "3D" element that we rarely get elsewhere.  It's super easy to launch and the temptation to toy around with gliding was really strong but the risk factor was too high given the conditions and my limited expirience with gliding off stuff. Next season we'll get up there when there's better coverage.

It was awesome but after about 4 hrs I was done.  A few people showed up because they saw us kiting from down at the highway at the base.  They actually paid to come up and check us out which I thought was pretty cool.  We tried to be extremely considerate and didn't interfere with the skiers or the hikers in any way.

A woman at the top asked me how many runs I got in and I told her "About 10 miles worth." She just looked at me like I was an idiot.

We quit as the wind shifted more west and was getting really dirty, at one point was blowing down the hill which is not good and kinda sketchy.

There is always a certain element of risk with kiting and that risk is compounded on Washington.  We had a great time and but make no mistake I am not condoning "willy nilly" kite trips on Mount Washington.  The mountain is known for the worst weather in the world for a reason and things can go from good to bad before you know what's happening. We were up there during a long forcasted calm spell and had the benefit of being able to drive right up to kite and take advantage of the good weather.  Usually it's a 2-2.5 hour hike if the weather is good.

The sunday before we were up the wind was average 40mph gusting to 60mph with a max gust of 74mph.  From down in town it looked perfectly clear and calm as can be. 

 If you screw up on Washington you can get seriously injured or even killed.   People die or get rescued on Washington regularly which not only puts you the individual at risk but the rescue people at risk as well.  Best case scenario if something goes wrong is you live and get charged huge $ to cover rescue operation expenses. If

But if you plan accordingly, are well prepared, have the proper equipment, knowledge and the flexibilty to go when the conditions are right Mount Washington can be one of the coolest places you will ever fly a kite.   

Keep it fun and keep it safe.

Thanks to Molly for coming up with us and taking all the sweet shots.

Till next time!