Fatality on Mt. Guyot

[dclynch]

Those wacky micro-weather issues can be quite bizarre. Two Summers ago I watched the weirdest thunderstorm I have ever seen while traveling the Crawford Path between Lakes Of The Clouds And Pierce. As I was leaving the summit of Washington I could hear and see thunder and lightning in the area of Crawford Notch. I was a bit concerned because that was where I had parked and was heading. It was relatively nice where I was but the dark clouds were coming.

It seemed to be moving pretty slowly so I continued as planned. I went around Monroe vs summiting it again to be safe. As I was coming down the lawn between Monroe and Eisenhower it was clear the weather was coming right at me. So I stopped in a low spot to get a better look at what it was doing. And that is when I realized how small it was. I mean SMALL. The entire area of the "storm" would not have been able to cover a football stadium, maybe just the actual field, and it was moving absurdly slowly. But it had rain, thunder and lightning. I wound up just sitting there and watching it slowly glide by me as it went up the valley just North of me heading toward the Northern Presi's. It looked like it was being sustained by the updraft out of the valley toward the shoulder of Clay and Jefferson. It literally took about 30 minutes to cover the distance from Pierce to Clay. Was really cool and bizarre.

Photo attached. That rain in center is literally the whole storm. It had circling winds, thunder, rain and an occasional flash that lasted the whole time I watched it. Nature is cool.

They have storms that look like that in Florida. Usually they move faster, but otherwise similar to what you describe.

 

[sierra]

Those wacky micro-weather issues can be quite bizarre. Two Summers ago I watched the weirdest thunderstorm I have ever seen while traveling the Crawford Path between Lakes Of The Clouds And Pierce. As I was leaving the summit of Washington I could hear and see thunder and lightning in the area of Crawford Notch. I was a bit concerned because that was where I had parked and was heading. It was relatively nice where I was but the dark clouds were coming.

It seemed to be moving pretty slowly so I continued as planned. I went around Monroe vs summiting it again to be safe. As I was coming down the lawn between Monroe and Eisenhower it was clear the weather was coming right at me. So I stopped in a low spot to get a better look at what it was doing. And that is when I realized how small it was. I mean SMALL. The entire area of the "storm" would not have been able to cover a football stadium, maybe just the actual field, and it was moving absurdly slowly. But it had rain, thunder and lightning. I wound up just sitting there and watching it slowly glide by me as it went up the valley just North of me heading toward the Northern Presi's. It looked like it was being sustained by the updraft out of the valley toward the shoulder of Clay and Jefferson. It literally took about 30 minutes to cover the distance from Pierce to Clay. Was really cool and bizarre.

Photo attached. That rain in center is literally the whole storm. It had circling winds, thunder, rain and an occasional flash that lasted the whole time

Those wacky micro-weather issues can be quite bizarre. Two Summers ago I watched the weirdest thunderstorm I have ever seen while traveling the Crawford Path between Lakes Of The Clouds And Pierce. As I was leaving the summit of Washington I could hear and see thunder and lightning in the area of Crawford Notch. I was a bit concerned because that was where I had parked and was heading. It was relatively nice where I was but the dark clouds were coming.

It seemed to be moving pretty slowly so I continued as planned. I went around Monroe vs summiting it again to be safe. As I was coming down the lawn between Monroe and Eisenhower it was clear the weather was coming right at me. So I stopped in a low spot to get a better look at what it was doing. And that is when I realized how small it was. I mean SMALL. The entire area of the "storm" would not have been able to cover a football stadium, maybe just the actual field, and it was moving absurdly slowly. But it had rain, thunder and lightning. I wound up just sitting there and watching it slowly glide by me as it went up the valley just North of me heading toward the Northern Presi's. It looked like it was being sustained by the updraft out of the valley toward the shoulder of Clay and Jefferson. It literally took about 30 minutes to cover the distance from Pierce to Clay. Was really cool and bizarre.

Photo attached. That rain in center is literally the whole storm. It had circling winds, thunder, rain and an occasional flash that lasted the whole time I watched it. Nature is cool.

That sounds like a very cool experience. Those are called "Micro climates".

 

[skiguy]

Those wacky micro-weather issues can be quite bizarre. Two Summers ago I watched the weirdest thunderstorm I have ever seen while traveling the Crawford Path between Lakes Of The Clouds And Pierce. As I was leaving the summit of Washington I could hear and see thunder and lightning in the area of Crawford Notch. I was a bit concerned because that was where I had parked and was heading. It was relatively nice where I was but the dark clouds were coming.

It seemed to be moving pretty slowly so I continued as planned. I went around Monroe vs summiting it again to be safe. As I was coming down the lawn between Monroe and Eisenhower it was clear the weather was coming right at me. So I stopped in a low spot to get a better look at what it was doing. And that is when I realized how small it was. I mean SMALL. The entire area of the "storm" would not have been able to cover a football stadium, maybe just the actual field, and it was moving absurdly slowly. But it had rain, thunder and lightning. I wound up just sitting there and watching it slowly glide by me as it went up the valley just North of me heading toward the Northern Presi's. It looked like it was being sustained by the updraft out of the valley toward the shoulder of Clay and Jefferson. It literally took about 30 minutes to cover the distance from Pierce to Clay. Was really cool and bizarre.

Photo attached. That rain in center is literally the whole storm. It had circling winds, thunder, rain and an occasional flash that lasted the whole time I watched it. Nature is cool.

Living in the shadow of the Whites I see these micro storms quite often during the warmer months of the year.

 

[Cartophile]

Some summers ago, I was camping in the woods a little below the summit of Whitewall Mtn. The forecast had been for clear weather, and I was sleeping in my tent without, of course, the rain fly. I woke up being rained upon, and I dashed outside to throw up the fly quickly and to bring in my pack. As I looked around, there was moonlight, and I could see the stars, except directly overhead, where a small dark cloud was raining on me.

 

[skiguy]

Unfortunately, Authors like Ty as good as they write do just that write and much of the time for the author's profit. The glorification of someone else's tragedy for the sake of that is a slippery slope. I'll stick to publications like Accidents in North American Climbing for a much higher level of objectivity.

I’m in the middle of reading Ty’s third book “The Lions of Winter”. IMO this is his best piece yet. But that is just my subjective opinion. He has evolved as an Author with this one and tells the story well. I guess for me The book comes across more real especially compared to his first book. My hypothesis on that is there is way more hands on real life experience to base the book on. In other words many others were involved including the survivors that are still here to provide information. Even though his first book was researched well I personally feel too much romantic and subjective writing was injected. Not much info has come out of the Guyout incident since it occurred.

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

I’m in the middle of reading Ty’s third book “The Lions of Winter”. IMO this is his best piece yet. But that is just my subjective opinion. He has evolved as an Author with this one and tells the story well. I guess for me The book comes across more real especially since his first book. My hypothesis on that is there is way more hands on real life experience to base the book on. In other words many others were involved including the survivors that are still here to provide information. Even though his first book was researched well I personally feel to much romantic and subjective writing was injected. Not much info has come out of the Guyout incident since it occurred.

I just learned some things that I did not know about Chris Roma’s tragic death in Sandy Stott’s and Scott Berkley’s summary “A Loop Too Far” in the accidents section of the recent AMC’s Appalachia journal (p. 106-112), like Chris told his girlfriend that he did not want to read the weather forecast because if he did he might cancel his hike. There are several other articles in the latest issue of Appalachia pertaining to SAR, including two about self rescues, one that must have been very embarrassing for the author to write.

I liked Ty’s “The Last Traverse” the most of his three books.