4 climate zones, about 30 minutes

This weekend, we were up in NH, and on Saturday, I had an opportunity to show my boy and his friend the top of New England for the first time. It was a nice day in the valley, they were in shorts and t-shirts originally. I had them put on long pants, and pack a bunch of extra stuff, which they laughed at, but complied. They hadn't noticed that you couldn't see the very top of Mt Washington, even though it was sunny where we were.

Now, we only had a couple hours, and they really weren't ready for a hike. We are planning one later in the summer traversing some of the Presidential Range staying in the AMC huts. I thought I could show them why I insist on all the extra stuff, in a gentle way... so we drove up the auto road to the summit where the weather observatory is. I included a few photos. Note that these were all taken within a 30 minute timespan! We crossed 4 different climatic zones, ending in an arctic tundra environment.


Heading up Mt Washington, pretty nice so far.



At the AT crossing on the auto road, nice summer hiking.



Almost in the clouds, the boys are starting to realize something's changing...



Starting to get windy.



Ok, really windy, one of them said something like: "mom's going to be mad if we blow off the mountain"



Top of Tuckerman's Ravine Trail:



At the bottom of the sign, the first digit is obscurred by my boy, it's a "2", as in 231 MPH windspeed!



Nice day at the summit:



Inside the weather center. Sustained winds around 60 mph, gusting to 89mph. Of course, we had a combination of sleet, fog, freezing rain to keep it fun! Remember, it was in the 70's, calm, and sunny for these guys a half hour ago. (But, we were one mile lower in elevation.)



As I said, the elapsed time between all of these pictures was only about 30 minutes. I think the boys were shocked that the weather conditions could vary so much in such a short time. We went from about 1300ft to 6288ft. It was sunny again when we went back down a mile or so to Pinkham Notch. Fun little learning experience. When we go hiking later on the traverse of the Presidentials, I don't think my son will argue about having extra gear in his pack

"extra gear in the pack"..that sums it up,you should be
ready for any and everything dispite the few extra pounds.
wonderful photos..your boys will remember this!!!..and
for us in the "flat as a pooltable" midwest what a great
bunch of mountain shots--

It was an eye opener for them, in one of the shots you can see a ski area, that's Wildcat Ski Area on the other side of Pinkham Notch. They have been there skiing in winter, and it's a pretty steep set of slopes, good double black diamond trails. Still, looking DOWN on it made it seem less of a challenge. They said something like, "that can't be Wildcat, Wildcat's tough, are you sure." Perspective.

As for the pictures, I was not very pleased with the quality, but, between the wind, rain, sleet, clouds etc, it was kinda hard to get a Kodak moment captured. When we were taking the pictures at the summit, on a couple shots the auto flash fired because being in the clouds had made it dark enough. I had several shots where I knew that I was shaking as much as the boys I was trying to photograph. Anyone have good tips on getting decent photos when under poor conditions? (Seems like I'm in them enough, if I endure the weather, might as well learn how to get them for posterity I have to be able to show my son what I put up with to get him out there.)

"Anyone have good tips on getting decent photos when under poor conditions?"

You might investigate a camera monopod, a single stick with a camera mount on the top.

A fancy version is the TrekPod from Trek-Tech ( http://www.trek-tech.com/ ) which is also a walking stick.

All-automatic cameras are limited in what they can do.

Sue

RON..the photos you posted were fine..they really captured
the feeling of what a mountan top was like..i have read
about Mt Washington and seen magazine photos but yours were
more "realistic"..i assume your using a digital camera..
for many years i took my Nikkormat or Nikon F on canoe trips
and got great photos because i could control the speeds and
such..i have a Olympus Stylus now that i got because i wanted
something lightweight..it's a good thing i can get hundreds
of photos on one chip because half of them have the same
problems you were talking about..bad exposures..bluring..
i lay the problem to the total automatic systems in the camera
that set all the speeds and lens openings--and don't tell you
what they are..plus there are a lot more settings in the menu
that can be hard to find in a hurry..back lighting and so on..
if i'm shooting my Nikon at 60th of a second i know to brace
myself..with the Olympus i hold it up and shoot and get a
"lag" before the shot is taken and a bad shot..outside of the
monopod idea about all i can think of is a high-end camera
that takes digital photos but let you control the shot..
i guess the only other option is take LOTS of photos and
pick the best..out of 600 i took i'm happy with less than
100...

Sue,

Interesting idea, that looks like a cool item. I wonder if I could try to attach a mounting stud for a camera on top of my telescoping walking stick that I already have to MacGyver a mono-pod? It actually has a wooden top, (or is it cork now that I think of it?). Maybe someone makes a fitting that has a wood screw on one end and a camera mount stud on the other?

No matter what we had the other day, it was ugly trying to get a photo with hurricane force gusts, and freezing rain, and about 20 foot visibility on the summit! Fun Fun Fun!

Well done!

I had a similar experience very recently.

At the gas station gassing up and crying my eyes out that this wasn't what I was driving.
The weather was beautiful and the temp was about 60.


A stop at the first overlook on the drive.


About a half an hour later the kids are starting to notice all the snow up top.


Finally on top. My youngest is ALWAYS ready for a snowball fight.


The obligatory pic at the summit with the snow starting up again. The temp on the summit was hovering right at 32. We actually had some fun getting back down because of the visibility (or lack thereof).


ETA: Be_Prepared, it won't help with your current camera but when you upgrade next time try one of the image stabilized models. It does come in handy, especially at the long end of the zoom.

Most cameras use a 1/4-20 thread for the tripod mounting. Either get a piece of threaded rod or cut the head off a 1/4" bolt. Drill a 1/4" dia. hole in the top of the stick & epoxy the bolt in leaving just enough sticking out to attach the camera.

You can either mount the camera directly or add a small ball tripod head to the top.

The bolt idea should work, thanks. I didn't think of that, but, I probably have just what I need in one of the coffee cans full of random leftover parts in the garage, or I could get a nice stainless one at the hardware store.

Someone else mentioned image stabilized cameras, how effective are they? I guess there's probably a thread about "Cameras for outdoor shooting" on here if I poke around. Thanks!

Mt Washington can indeed be Something Else! I hope you've seen the Record Low Temperatures on Display up there! In addition to the Record Wind Speed, -as you've Noted. How much Greater than a Hurricane this is! Really Think and Reflect on that! Tornado Wind Speeds may be in this Range, -perhaps often even Greater.

Mt Washington's Demanding of such Respect, -is for many, -only Common Knowledge! How many times have we Read of Mt Washington...!?

So whether from such, -or whether from such Direct, First Time Personal Experience as you, (the Boys anyway), have had, -its Good to finally so Learn. But it Taint like its been any Great Longstanding Secret!,...