Hope Anyone on the Summits the next three days have their A game

[peakbagger]

The winds have been howling today sustained 80 at the obs with gusts over 100. Down at 1400 feet my house rumbles on occasion which means anyone out in the open on the summits is probably crawling. The northern presis have been making their own clouds all day and the temps have been consistently falling. This is all supposed to be reinforced on Friday with even colder weather coming through and then clear skis to crank up nighttime cooling. Given its the second week of vacation week I hope folks heading up look at forecast and plan accordingly.

Looks like I see what the conditions are on Sunday Am and plan from there. Bummer as 3 more weekends until official spring.

 

[JustJoe]

I guess March decided to come in like a lion.

 

[egilbe]

I'm planning on hiking to North Crocker this weekend. At least that is mostly tree covered. Bad weekend to be on higher summits.

 

[JustJoe]

I hope this discourages, anyone, from attempting the higher summits Saturday.

Mount Washington Observatory
HIGHER SUMMITS FORECAST
Higher Summits Forecast


Saturday:

High: Starting around 30 below then slowly rising to around 20 below by sunset
Wind: NW shifting W at 50-70 mph increasing to 65-85 w/ gusts up to 100 mph
Wind Chill: 70 below to 80 below rising to 60 below to 70 below

 

[Creag Nan Drochaid]

They don't call the alpine zone the death zone for nothing. At some point in the sequence of small errors that so often lead to disasters, we have to stop long enough to ask ourselves whether any possible reward is worth the risk. I have turned around at treeline enough times to remember that the worst day on the hill is still better than the best day at work, and let it go at that.

 

[DayTrip]

The winds have been howling today sustained 80 at the obs with gusts over 100. Down at 1400 feet my house rumbles on occasion which means anyone out in the open on the summits is probably crawling. The northern presis have been making their own clouds all day and the temps have been consistently falling. This is all supposed to be reinforced on Friday with even colder weather coming through and then clear skis to crank up nighttime cooling. Given its the second week of vacation week I hope folks heading up look at forecast and plan accordingly.

Looks like I see what the conditions are on Sunday Am and plan from there. Bummer as 3 more weekends until official spring.

Indeed. I thought I was going to be able to finish my Winter 48 4k this year but after 8 summits in first six weeks the weather and my schedule has prevented me from getting anything other than a Zealand attempt a few weeks ago. Not being able to hike mid week has certainly been a hinderance the past month or so. Heading to Ohio for work this week and plans Saint Patricks Day weekend have essentially ended my chances unless I get some fortuitous midweek days off to make a late run. Part of the challenge I guess with Winter: being patient.

 

[Trail Boss]

They don't call the alpine zone the death zone for nothing.

I get your meaning (alpine zones can be hazardous to your health) but the "death zone" starts at a substantially higher elevation than where alpine zones begin. Higher than any peak in North America.

The death zone is said to start at 8000 meters (26,000 feet). It's the altitude where the human body cannot acclimatize to the low, ambient oxygen concentrations. All of the 8000m peaks are in Asia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_high_altitude_on_humans#Death_zone
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Everest#Death_zone
http://eliasaikaly.com/2013/into-the-death-zone/

 

[richard]

The winds have been howling today sustained 80 at the obs with gusts over 100. Down at 1400 feet my house rumbles on occasion which means anyone out in the open on the summits is probably crawling. The northern presis have been making their own clouds all day and the temps have been consistently falling. This is all supposed to be reinforced on Friday with even colder weather coming through and then clear skis to crank up nighttime cooling. Given its the second week of vacation week I hope folks heading up look at forecast and plan accordingly.

Looks like I see what the conditions are on Sunday Am and plan from there. Bummer as 3 more weekends until official spring.

Well timed post. Monday looks good. Thanks for being considerate. Maybe you saved someone a lot of grief at the least.

 

[Brambor]

I'm planning to hike Sunday. Keeping my fingers crossed. My trail choice isn't exposed until the summit.

 

[DayTrip]

I get your meaning (alpine zones can be hazardous to your health) but the "death zone" starts at a substantially higher elevation than where alpine zones begin. Higher than any peak in North America.

The death zone is said to start at 8000 meters (26,000 feet). It's the altitude where the human body cannot acclimatize to the low, ambient oxygen concentrations. All of the 8000m peaks are in Asia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_high_altitude_on_humans#Death_zone
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Everest#Death_zone
http://eliasaikaly.com/2013/into-the-death-zone/

I don't think he meant it literally nor did most take it that way (I didn't). Posting on VFTT reminds me of lawsuits with very talented lawyers on both sides. Every single word of the post is thoroughly dissected and fact checked for accuracy, with gray areas debated far into the obscure, every nuance explored until no one remembers what the original question was about.......which we of course all love.

 

[Trail Boss]

I did state I understood his meaning to be "alpine zones can be hazardous to your health".

The use of the term "death zone" was unfortunate. In the context of mountaineering, the terms "alpine zone" and "death zone" have clear definitions. His statement claimed the two were equivalent except they aren't.

 

[SherpaWill]

We went up Valley Way yesterday and made it to somewhere between Upper Bruin and the Airline Cutoff before we turned around. We had planned on going to the hut but there were 50+ mph winds with whiteout conditions in the trees so it didn't make sense to keep going.

 

[peakbagger]

Valley Way unfortunately is too sheltered for some folks. It can be miserable weather up above and Valley Way is usually well packed out so folks get in over their heads. It is great escape route although it does tend to get mountain generated snow dumped in the last stretch between Upper Bruin and just before the hut. I have been caught once or twice barebooting on a "sidewalk" and then have had to break 4 to 6 feet of fresh powder through this stretch. I speculated last year on the Kate M death that given her reported time for arriving at the hut and lack of snowshoes that this stretch may have been where she got substantially delayed and most likely damp as she would have been swimming in snow for much of this stretch. I have been coming down this trail on days where the forecast was for nasty weather the next day with degrading conditions and have met folks from outside the area heading up and explaining that they loved camping out in the forecast upcoming conditions. I expect 95% of the time they make it back and we don't hear about it.

 

[SherpaWill]

Valley Way unfortunately is too sheltered for some folks. It can be miserable weather up above and Valley Way is usually well packed out so folks get in over their heads. It is great escape route although it does tend to get mountain generated snow dumped in the last stretch between Upper Bruin and just before the hut. I have been caught once or twice barebooting on a "sidewalk" and then have had to break 4 to 6 feet of fresh powder through this stretch. I speculated last year on the Kate M death that given her reported time for arriving at the hut and lack of snowshoes that this stretch may have been where she got substantially delayed and most likely damp as she would have been swimming in snow for much of this stretch. I have been coming down this trail on days where the forecast was for nasty weather the next day with degrading conditions and have met folks from outside the area heading up and explaining that they loved camping out in the forecast upcoming conditions. I expect 95% of the time they make it back and we don't hear about it.

The lower part was hard packed with a bunch of frozen post holes. It looked like no one had hiked it in awhile. That spot above Upper Bruin had some heavy drifts that definitely slowed us down. I can see how someone could get themselves into trouble there.

 

[TJsName]

I don't think he meant it literally nor did most take it that way (I didn't). Posting on VFTT reminds me of lawsuits with very talented lawyers on both sides. Every single word of the post is thoroughly dissected and fact checked for accuracy, with gray areas debated far into the obscure, every nuance explored until no one remembers what the original question was about.......which we of course all love.

For words and phrases to have meaning they must be used consistently or else they become subjective. Without that, confusion abounds and language itself becomes a death zone. Sorry, I don't mean to call you out for 'post holes'.

Objectively, it's in the single digits right now, which I consider to be cold.

 

[Creag Nan Drochaid]

Trail Boss, I thank you for seeing my meaning. You are of course correct that I am confusing two zones that are different in mountaineering lingo. I do in fact know that, but I am used to talking with tourists. For their safety, I figure that a healthy respect for extreme conditions is the beginning of wisdom.

 

[egilbe]

-5 at the trailhead this morning. I would have at least attempted hiking up to Crocker, but the gf wouldnt even get out of the car. We went up to Height of the Land on RT 17 and got out to take some pictures. She must be wiser than I am, because that wind was pretty brutal. Probably a good choice to not be outdoors today.