Mt Washington Auto Road

[Frankly]

Now I'm kicking myself because I was just up at North Conway to get Limmer hiking boots... had I know it looked this good I would have made a special trip!

Any information about where they are skiing? How steep is it and has anyone done it this Spring? How far from the road is it, etc.?

Is this something reliable every Spring? Or was this year special that they got the auto road open early but with a extra deep good snowpack left?

Thanks. And thanks to Andrew Drummond, he does cool stuff.

 

[LiquidFeet]

I wore my breaks down badly driving down that auto road once. Be sure your low gear is strong enough to control your speed.
Overview:

 

[surfsnowgirl]

I've been told to never buy a vehicle that touts the sticker "I climbed Mt. Washington".

 

[Lauren]

Any information about where they are skiing? How steep is it and has anyone done it this Spring? How far from the road is it, etc.?

Is this something reliable every Spring? Or was this year special that they got the auto road open early but with a extra deep good snowpack left?

They're skiing the East Snowfields in the video, you can tell by the views of Wildcat Ski Area. I've skied Mt. Washington's slack country 5 times in the past 7 years...we've tried to make it an annual thing, but sometimes the cards just don't fall quite right (personal reasons, not snowpack reasons). The video shows a lot of snow up there for this time of year. More than I've seen in the years I've been up. Next weekend is a busy one for me, so not gonna make it but I'm hoping the snow holds out till June 3rd.

If you start lurking around timefortuckerman.com you can gain lots of advice on that area of NH. Also, check the webcams from Mt. Washington Observatory, you can see the snowpack on the east (and southeast) fields from Wildcat or Jackson...although, not gonna see anything today.

 

[James]

The Cog Railway path has some snowmaking pipes. It was open for a few years as a trail.

This record driving up in 2010 by Travis Pastrana is impressive. Really interesting on the notes for each turn or blind jump.

 

[Lauren]

This record driving up in 2010 by Travis Pastrana is impressive. Really interesting on the notes for each turn or blind jump.

And David Higgins has since taken 11 seconds off of Pastrana's record. Absolutely crazy if you ask me...I'll stick to the recommended 1/2 hour climb...thank you very much.

 

[Frankly]

The Cog Railway path has some snowmaking pipes. It was open for a few years as a trail.

This record driving up in 2010 by Travis Pastrana is impressive. Really interesting on the notes for each turn or blind jump.

Good thing he wasn't using Siri and Apple Maps....

 

[KevinF]

And David Higgins has since taken 11 seconds off of Pastrana's record. Absolutely crazy if you ask me...I'll stick to the recommended 1/2 hour climb...thank you very much.

There's an annual bicycle race up the auto road. A friend of mine was working support at the top during one of the years that Tyler Hamilton won. Apparently everybody was standing around the finish line when Tyler came flying up the last stretch several minutes faster than anybody had done it previously. Tyler was yelling to "clear a path".

Tom Danielson set the record at one point to 49 minutes, but both he and Tyler have been convicted of doping, so who knows what the fastest "clean" record is.

Watching the video above of the rally car race doesn't do any justice to how ungodly steep that road is. My pedaling time up was 94 minutes; I don't really feel the need to suffer like that again. You don't even get to ride down! I think riding down would be doable with disc brakes

To @LiquidFeet 's comments about ruining the brakes... Riding up involves having somebody waiting up top to drive you back down. I was coming back down and the car in front of us had white smoke pouring off his brakes. My car had a manual transmission, so we just left it in first gear and drove down that way... At one point we decided to pop it into second gear to "see what would happen". Bad idea... Let's just say the speed increased significantly and fast. We brought it to a stop, put it back in first and drove down that way.

 

[LiquidFeet]

My big van in 1st gear gained too much speed on the descent. First gear (to my surprise) was not strong enough to keep the going slow, on that pitch, and taking those corners at any speed was not an option. I had family in the van. Thus the smoke, the smell, the brake wear, the pauses on the side (when there was space) to cool the brakes down, the enormous family angst, and last but not least the brake wear.

 

[Brian Finch]

I've run the road!

 

[Muleski]

About ten years ago, a couple of friends asked my wife and I if we'd like to be their support for the bike hill ciimb. We had a Land Cruiser, and I was surprised when one of them said that they would pay for "the rental." When I asked, he joked that it would be a lot less expensive than rotors and pads on all four corners! So we rented a Suburban, and did it again for a number of years. Even when that's held the weather can get real "interesting." One year before the first finishers arrived, we were on the deck of the observatory, having a cup of coffee with clear sky and about 10 mph of wind. A half hour later, we had rain, hail and gusts to about 50-60 mph, with about a 20 degree drop in temperature.

We should ask one of the guys with significant rally car experience, @ScotsSkier to comment on Pestrana's drive. I also agree, the video footage doesn't do justice to the steepness, and to how blind some of it is. Pretty unique drive.

 

[ScotsSkier]

Yes, nice driving, you have to totally trust your navigator when he calls the pace notes. If you hesitate and lift off it costs you seconds each time. When I was rallying we did not have pace notes or the opportunity to drive and learn the stages. You basically were driving it as you saw it and had to try to use the terriain features to giive you direction clues. I have to admit to going straight on at firebreaks on a couple of occasions...

 

[John Webb]

20 years ago we were there but they would not my wife's Saturn SL2 on that road.
Something about no lower gear. Had to take an expensive tour up instead.

 

[James]

If it's a nice day, somewhat rare, the Cog railway is a nice way to go up.

You pay more for the smoke belching steam engine:

 

[Doug Briggs]

I've been told to never buy a vehicle that touts the sticker "I climbed Mt. Washington".

Nor for sale anyways. Plus this truck actually hasn't been E of Denver anyway. I grew up there and have driven the road, though. Didn't need new brakes, but I did stop frequently and used low gear only.

An oldie but goodie from as far as I dared on Bald Mt. in Breckenridge.

20 years ago we were there but they would not my wife's Saturn SL2 on that road.
Something about no lower gear. Had to take an expensive tour up instead.

They evaluate vehicles for sure when you pass the gate to start the climb. I once had a bunch of folks in the back of my truck to ski the Great Gulf. I also had a free pass. The attendant said I had too much weight but let me unload some people into another vehicle and proceed; both of us went under the free pass.

I watched the hill climb once from a perch above the road that gave a number of views of the race. One 'custom' racer ended up upside down. Just below us was a gravel section of road and it was pretty exciting watching the cars fishtailing with rocks on one side and a long drop on the other.

 

[Carl Kuck]

This record driving up in 2010 by Travis Pastrana is impressive. Really interesting on the notes for each turn or blind jump.

You beat me to it! This was the first thing that popped into my mind when I saw the Mt. Washington road thread...

 

[Doug Briggs]

I got distracted by the Auto Road portion of this thread. Here's some on the actual skiing.

The skiing in the video is extremely accessible and some of the easiest skiing on Mt. Washington. The terrain is maybe 20 - 25 degrees. The hazards are the obvious and not so obvious rocks. Since the snowfield is covering a rock pile you have to tread carefully.

Car skiing is possible, of course, when the auto road is open which varies from year to year. With auto access to the summit you can ski the snowfields in the video as well as terrain North and West of the Summit. Generally, but not always, Tuckerman Ravine is past its prime when the auto road is open. You could ski the snowfields then hike to Tucks, but unless you know what you are getting into, both terrain and conditions, it isn't recommended.

Great Gulf, to the N and E of the summmit, offers a wide range of skiing from some moderate ravines to gnarly rock walled chutes. With names like Airplane (after the airplane debris) and Spacewalk, it is an exciting place.

Going S and W from the summit can land you in Ammonoosuc Ravine which offers a great ride down to the base of the cog railway. There are other runs that I've not done to the N of Ammo on Mt Jefferson.

Here is a picture of a coal fired engine alluded to above.

 

[Lauren]

Pastrana does it again...http://nesn.com/2017/07/travis-pastrana-obliterates-subaru-mount-washington-hillclimb-record/

Broke the record, not once, but twice this past weekend. Setting a new record at 5 minutes 44.72 seconds. Former record holder David Higgins, apparently came into a corner too hot, clipped a rock, and went off the road. Very lucky, he walked away unharmed.

 

[nemesis256]

That's some ridiculous driving...

Maybe old Toyota Corollas have better low gear, but I don't find that road to be that bad. I've gone up there 3 times this spring (twice for skiing the snowfields and once for a hike) and I can get down 80% of the road without even touching the brakes. In the flat spots I even had to go into second gear for a few seconds from slowing down too much. What sucks is getting stuck behind people who are riding their brakes.

About the skiing, using the webcam from Wildcat in combination with Google Maps you can figure out where the snow and closest parking is.