Mount Washington Spring Break Trip of Awesomeness

OVERVIEW

The moment you all have been waiting for! The Mount Washington Spring Break Trip Of Awesomeness. This trip is gonna be Legen- wait for it- DARY!
http://www.vu.union.edu/~allenp2/IMG_0200.JPG

So… we are gonna do some crazy intense backcountry sking/boarding on the most epic mountain on the east coast, Mount Washington in New Hampshire. We are getting a guide to help guide us away from death and disastor and towards super steep couloirs and powder stashes as we climb up the 6,288 ft mountain and ski down its imposing and majestic slopes. We will do as many runs through the awesome parts as we can manage and essentially do the most epic skiing and mountaineering ever seen in the history of the Outdoors Club.

We will spend two days with the guide on the mountain, skiing, climbing, and learning about avalanche and mountaineering techniques. I personally want to learn as much as we can from the guide in addition to just having an awesome time on the mountain.

Additionally, we will pair this up with a day of skiing in bounds at the local little hill in Jackson, New Hampshire, Black Mountain. Its a little mountain but it looks to have a bunch of really hard stuff and be a pretty cool locals place. (plus lift tickets are super cheap!)

We will drive up the 7th, ski at Black Mountain on the 8th, ski Mount Washington on the 9th and 10th, and drive home on the 11th. This won’t take up the whole spring break and it allows us to get the weekday rate at Black Mountain.

WARNING: This is the backcountry. We will have a guide for safety, BUT this is an epic mountain. Mount Washington is a big ass pile of rocks and it has the weather to prove it. It is known for having some of the worst weather on planet earth (yes the entire freaking planet). It holds the world record for highest recorded surface wind speed at 231 mph. That shit cray. As I write up this trip report the current conditions at the summit are: 1 degree F with sustained wind speed of 64.6 mph with gusts of over 87 mph today. However, weather can change significantly so be prepared for anything. (warm on the way up, a front comes in and the temps drop by 30 degrees is not out of the ordinary) Also, as this is not a patrolled ski resort, avalanches are a risk. With our guide, there is very little chance of anything happening, but i wanted to make sure I mentioned this before people signed up.
http://www.adventureskier.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/WM03IF1EMBA.jpg
http://www.mountwashington.org/weather/conditions.php

REQUIREMENTS: This trip is designed only for awesome cool people. That said, you do NOT need any backcountry experience or own backcountry skis or a split board. You do have to be pretty awesome at the resort and you MUST be confident on double black diamond slopes in pretty much all conditions. We might be on slopes as steep as 55 degrees (steeper than any slope here in the southeast). Additionally, we will be skinning/climbing up the mountain so you had better have a good level of fitness. The faster/more efficient we climb, the more skiing we get to do!

We are gonna stay at the Bunkhouse at Synnott Mountain Guides in Jackson, NH or some cheap motel in the area.

The weather is variable, so dress in layers. No single heavy coat. We are going to be going uphill and are gonna get hot on the way up. On the flip side, as we gain altidude (if we can get the summit, we will be able to cover up to 4280 vertical feet- more than anything in america besides telluride, snowmass, and big sky) so it’ll get a lot colder as we go up (sometimes over 30-40 degree difference between base and summit).

By signing up for this trip you are signing over your soul to me (the devil). I will waitlist everyone for this trip and the lucky few will be chosen by the following critea: Skiing/boarding ability, fitness for the climb, the owning of a car with 4wd, and cold weather experience. If you have any questions of whether this trip is right for you or not, feel free to shoot me an email or give me a call at (407) 617-2440.
If you’ve made it this far in the trip description, you know just how epic this trip is gonna be
http://images.cuddlycomments.com/5/57194e2d21b7c97a8.jpg

If you do get the golden ticket that is a spot on this trip, you will have to pay a $100 deposit for the guide fee. I’ll need that kinda soon so i can get the whole thing booked as soon as possible. The total fee for this whole shin-dig is gonna be about $350 ($250 per person guide fee for two days + $30 student lift ticket+ an estimated $15 per person per night for lodging + some fudge factor)

Last but not least, this was planned in conjunction with the Crockpot, so you know we do trips the right way.

More Research before you decide:
Our guide’s site:
http://www.newhampshireclimbing.com/climbing-course.asp?ID=74&cat=12
More info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Washington_(New_Hampshire)
http://www.mountwashington.org/
http://blackmt.com/index.php
http://www.newhampshireclimbing.com/climbing-photo.asp?img=central_dropin.jpg&ID=76

You Provide:
your own skis(for the day inbounds) or your snowboard (for both)
LAYERS- the weather is variable (have i mentioned that yet) so it could be drastically different not only between the two days. puffies are good, so are a second pair of lighter gloves for the climb up.
Backpack- should be able to carry your skis/board for climbing up the steep sections. Boarders will need to ride down with snowshoes on their packs. It only needs to be large enough for the day, but you can use compression straps on something larger.
ski poles- if you are a snowboarder it might be nice to have some collapseable poles for the up
$$$ for food for the drive up and back and if you want to buy lunch for the day at Black Mountain
A helmet if you have one is a pretty good idea

Club Provides:
Food and cooking Gear
A ride
snowshoes for the boarders
sleeping bags if you need em
anything else you might want from the gear room

Guide Provides:
AT skis
climbing skins
Avalanche Beacons
Avalanche Probes
Snow Shovels
Know-how and badassness

Congrats on reading the whole trip description!