Mt. Washington 4-19-08

[awf170]

Yep, just another sucky day...

The route was: up the cog, down pipeline, up airplane, down airplane, up airplane, up to summit, down east snow fields, across to Lakes of the Clouds, down Monroe.

So yeah, it was a pretty tiring day. Around 6,000 ft. of vert.

Here are some pics:

A group of ants looking into the GG:


The cog and Mt. Monroe:


Tele-skier dropping into a Pipeline variation:


I actually stole this picture from TGR, there isn't any terrain like this is New England :


Yeah...


Nate (nlmasopust) dropping into Pipeline:


Me getting ready to down-climb to my skis (I slid my skis down when I was boot packing down, and they slid too far so I had to do some sketchy down-climbing in ski boots. I suck):


Starting the bootpack up airplane:


Nearing the top of airplane:


More to come...

[awf170]

Nate at the top of airplane:


Random guy and Nate:


Tele-skier in airplane:


Nate nearing the summit:


Nate skiing Monroe Brook:




A buddy in the parking lot:

[bvibert]

Nice pics as usual Austin! Looks like a long day, but it also looks like it was worth it.

[andyzee]

You da man!

[cbcbd]

Damn, I should start working out.

[awf170]

Originally Posted by cbcbd

Damn, I should start working out.

Nope, you'll be fine. After about 2 hours in my boots my feet hurt so bad that it is painful to walk. So as long as you keep me on stuff that requires me to have my ski boots on you'll be good! Hopefully some of the mountains up there have train tracks on them...

[twinplanx]

Originally Posted by awf170

Nope, you'll be fine. After about 2 hours in my boots my feet hurt so bad that it is painful to walk. So as long as you keep me on stuff that requires me to have my ski boots on you'll be good! Hopefully some of the mountains up there have train tracks on them...

So your saying that you hiked the cog tracks in ski boots? Sounds just a bit uncomfortable but you do shed some pack pounds.

[riverc0il]

Originally Posted by twinplanx

So your saying that you hiked the cog tracks in ski boots? Sounds just a bit uncomfortable but you do shed some pack pounds.

Not uncomfortable at all when the boots are alpine touring boots. Light and flexible with walk modes, the more tour oriented models are quite comfortable for up hill climbing and definitely better on the feet than on the pack.

[awf170]

Originally Posted by twinplanx

So your saying that you hiked the cog tracks in ski boots? Sounds just a bit uncomfortable but you do shed some pack pounds.

No, I'm saying that the cog tracks saved me because it allowed me take off my ski boots.

Originally Posted by riverc0il

Not uncomfortable at all when the boots are alpine touring boots. Light and flexible with walk modes, the more tour oriented models are quite comfortable for up hill climbing and definitely better on the feet than on the pack.

Hiking up the cog with your boots in your pack is a lot faster, IMO. For the last 800 ft. of vert I switched to hiking shoes and Nate wore ski boots. I was a good amount faster then him, and normally we are the same speed. As a side note: we also flew by everyone that was skinning next to the cog. IMO, as long you have good grip and it is moderately steep you can't compete with hiking boots.