It's F^)*@ dangerous, if people are not hiking now, they should not start. If everyone thought it was easy & safe & thought that 2/3's of the days on Mt. Washington might be okay instead of daunting terrible, the Whites & the roads would be even more crowded.
(BTW, any of you who have heard rumors that the Jersey Shore is nice & does not look like the swamps & refineries you seem from I-95, it's just a rumor, it's awful at the shore, don't go
)
The main stream press typically doesn't get the outdoors right, I'm not even bothering reading it. Is it the same author from last year? On occasion, the Hartford Courant will have an article by Steve Grant that I'll read. He was one of the newspaper reporters who did the AT several years ago & he's still out hiking.
(Rats, I went & read the first two pages, not that bad & while late August may feel like fall up high on many days, IMO October & April are the trickiest months, April, it can be nice at home & at the trailhead with deep soft snow higher up & October, especially later, can be a crisp fall day & winter like up high - not winter for us but for neophytes, it'll feel like winter.
Hardened winter hikers, the author apparently has not seen all of our ab's I look like I've had too many six packs)
* & then I read the whole thing,
more publicity for Dahl's silly website which is more about financial planning, making a $. that whole thing p!$$ed me off 8+ years ago