Mt Washington - Huntington Ravine & Bike Race

[bobandgeri]

This past weekend we were joined by John & Sarah, Andy, and Jim for a 2 day trip up Mt Washington. Friday we hiked up Huntington Ravine to the summit and spent the night in the Weather Observatory. We had sunny weather for most of the day, with clouds rolling in as we reached the top of the headwall.

This is a more difficult trail than most, but in dry conditions is do-able by most - just so long as you are not afraid of a little rock scramblong. We only say 7 other hikers on the trail, and a few rock climbers that we watched while making our way up the ravine.

Sat morning we watched the finish of the Mt Washington Bike race as the clouds and rained closed in. After the race we descended on the Lions Head trail. No pics of the descent as we were in rain and 30 knot winds for the first 2 hours.

Our full trip report is available on our web page:

Latest Hikes

 

[darren]

Maybe Anthony should try doping his blood and then next year he can beat Tyler.

- darren

 

[MichaelJ]

I have enough issues biking up the hill I live on (note to self: do not live next to town water tower in future, no matter how good the view), I can't imagine biking up Mt. Washington. She was *blown off her bike* ? Yikes!

What's the latest on Hamilton, anyway?

Nice TR! I'm jealous that you got to meet Nin.

 

[bobandgeri]

Maybe Anthony should try doping his blood and then next year he can beat Tyler.

- darren

Hey - what ever happened to innocent until proven guilty ??? His hearing is scheduled for Sep 6 and is expected to take a week.

 

[Jay H]

We need a Tyler H vrs Tom Danielson race up Washington.

As far as Tyler goes, the word that I've heard is that it really is a bone for them (WADA) and the UCI and the folks to prove that he took any form of drugs, but that isn't going to stop them from banning him. (pending the trial). It is innocent til proven guilty, but we're talking the UCI and europe, namely the French. (Nothing against the French, hey, it's their race and they haven't had anybody close enough to winning it since Hinault. ).

Tyler may be innocent, he may not be. You can't say much for Phonak, they just had another guy test positive, which means in the last year and half, 4 guys or so have testest positive on their A sample. The latest guy (guidi?) was just a few days ago so they still need to test the B sample, but certainly it's not a good sign for Phonak, especially with their ProTour invitation on the line. Will Phonak, as a sponsor be back????????

My opinion is that Tyler probably got screwed, at least that's what I hope to believe. But the damage is done already, innocent or not, Tyler will live with that air of doubt, unless you're from Marblehead I guess .

I don't know how much you folks follow the World Cup and Pro Cycling, but there was an IMAX crew following Tyler last year and a IMAX flick about Mind over matter kind of thing, how Tyler overcame his injury to complete the tour and win a stage even. The last I heard was the authors had to wipe Tyler out of the movie because of his drug suspension. So the IMAX movie is not going to have Tyler prominently focused which is a shame in the sense that it was a riveting storyline and at the time, looked like a clear hit. It is unfortunate that in the light of the drug suspension, it was not meant to be.

Jay

 

[darren]

Hey - what ever happened to innocent until proven guilty ??? His hearing is scheduled for Sep 6 and is expected to take a week.

I'm not positive on the latest, but when the story broke the deal was that he got busted not for drugs but for having too many red blood cells. Meaning he gave blood, stored it, and then added it back to his system right before the race. An extra pint of blood to carry oxygen goes a long way. When he got busted, he came up with some "when I was fetus my body ate my twin's fetus and that is why I have too many red blood cells" story. What a crock.

I used to really respect him. I was amazed by his performance in the Tour 2 years ago with the broken collar bone. Then when the story broke and we found out that he was blood doping, I felt like I had been duped. I hate being duped. What a disappointment from a local hero. It is such a bummer when you think a local person is doing good and then you find out that you got duped.

- darren

 

[drewski]

mt washington

nice report and nice pics..thanks for the hike.looking forward maybe to the pres trv.will be in touch.

 

[SteveHiker]

the guy in the cube next to me made it in about 90 minutes. He had never been on Mt Washington before. He doesn't believe me about the view.

 

[Bob Kittredge]

Nice pics, as usual. The flowers are particuarly nice. I'm pretty sure the first is meadowsweet and am guessing the second is arnica mollis. One of my favorite things about climbing HR is when you pull yourself up some vertical rock and unexpectedly find yourself eye-to-eye with some bunchberry or sandwort growing happily in a crevice.

I had planned to do that climb on Sunday, but after doing Monroe on Saturday via the Ammo, I decided I'd had enough of rain and wet, slippery rock for one weekend.

 

[Suebiscuit]

Bob and Geri -

Great report! Love the grasshopper pic! Looking forward to climbing up the ravine sometime soon - inspired by your pictures! And interesting to see the interior of the observatory - what a treat for you, eh?

FYI, (sorry to move away from you report again!) Tyler was pegged for "mixed" blood - having cells other than his own (as well as a high number of red cells)... thus the "vanishing twin" theory... hard to believe someone would transfuse 'foreign' blood when the 'autologous' (one's own blood) approach is so much less risky/detectable... but the theory is strange.

Sue

 

[coldmountain]

Bob and Geri;
Outstanding pictures! It looks like a fun time being on top of Washington for the night.
I also enjoyed hiking with you on the Kinsmans for Brians 48th. Looking forward to hiking with you again.

 

[^MtnMike^]

Nice report! I love that trail.
How did you guys get to stay in the Weather Observatory!?! *JEALOUS*

~Mike

 

[bobandgeri]

Nice report! I love that trail.
How did you guys get to stay in the Weather Observatory!?! *JEALOUS*

~Mike

Thanks Mike - Huntington Ravine is our favorite route up Mt Washington.

Our friend Jim, whom I work with, acted as the trip leader and coordinated the trip with the Weather Observatory at half the cost of the trips run by other commercial companies.

We are currently planning a similar trip for this Winter!! :>

 

[TEO]

It is innocent til proven guilty, but we're talking the UCI and europe, namely the French. (Nothing against the French, hey, it's their race and they haven't had anybody close enough to winning it since Hinault. ).

That's an uninformed and uncalled for shot against the French, seeing as Hamilton was busted in both the Oympics and the Vuelta a Espana, not le Tour.

The fact that Hamilton's teammate Santiago Perez was busted just a few weeks later for the exact same offense, homologous transusion, has caused some to wonder whether their blood was was accidently switched before the transfusion and as a result they both tested positive for autologous transfusions.

It is naive and wishful thinking to believe that doping of many forms still is not rampant in cycling. Cycling has had a culture of doping for decades and decades, if not since shortly after its inception. From Fausto Coppi to Tom Simpson to Eddy Merckx to Pedro Delgado to Richard Virenque to Marco Pantani to Lance Armstrong to David Millar to Tyler Hamilton, top cylclists have either admitted to, as in the case of Coppi, or tested positive for, as all of the others have, performance enhancing treatments or masking agents.

Here are three informative links:
http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/7027.0.html
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2004/05/09/SPG066ILIK1.DTL
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=features/2005/avoid_positive

There was also a very enlightening article in The New Yorker during the edition of the Tour that climbed Ventoux for the first time during Lance's reign.

Doping in cycling is far more complicated than simply a couple of riders or teams being cheats. The pressures put on the riders by team sponsors and subsequently team managers to win are extraordinary. Just because the majority of riders dope, does not mean that their feats are any less amazing. These guys are extraordinary athletes who do extraordinary things, both on their bikes and to their bodies.

Edit to add: apologies for hijacking this thread.
2nd edit to add: a third informative link.

 

[Sticks]

I was looking forward to reading your trip report and viewing your pics, awesome.....
I was truly bummed when I heard your 1 vacant spot was already taken. Looks you had a great time and the weather was ok.
The climb up Huntington looks like a blast, can't wait to do it.
Very Happy to see SJ and Sara joined you. Damn shame the stuff going on now and I hope it all gets worked out.

Hope to finally one day meet you guys on the trail.

Until then Happy Trails

Sticks