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2014
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America's Worst Weather: A Trek Up Mount Washington Can Be Delightfully Foul by Peter Johansen
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Best Environmental/Responsible Tourism Feature
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Destination British Columbia

Published in Montreal Gazette, July 14, 2014

Rik Dow apologizes. He’s guided us up the highest mountain in the American northeast for a panoramic view, but we’re shrouded in pea soup.  “I’m disappointed for you folks that the clouds aren’t cooperating for scenery,” he says.  “But they’re cooperating to show off the weather we’re famous for.”

At 1,917 metres, New Hampshire’s Mount Washington sits in a magical kingdom of peaks and valleys. Wild rivers course through.  Shades of green escape counting.  It’s so jaw-droppingly picturesque that painters (such as Winslow Homer), writers (Nathaniel Hawthorne), even classical composers (Alan Hovhaness) have immortalized it.

On a clear day, one can spot four states and Quebec province from the summit. We don’t have a clear day.

Huddled last June against the cold wet wind, Rik articulates what I can’t put into words: “A lot of people come to the mountaintop with their eyes.  They come for the view.  But use your other senses.  Your skin feels different here.  Things smell different. You’re inside a cloud, and how often does that happen?”

Actually, the weather this June day isn’t bad by Mount Washington standards. Consider this:

  • The summit’s average daily wind speed, 59 kilometres per hour, is the highest in North America.
  • On average, winds exceed gale force 104 days a year.  A 1934 wind speed of 372 kilometres per hour is the second highest land speed ever recorded.  (Buildings atop the mountain are held down by sturdy chains.)
  • Snow has fallen every month of the year for as long as folks remember; nearly eight centimetres in July 2012.  The annual record: 14.4 metres, as tall as a four-storey building.

Our weather isn’t severe, but I’m happy Rik is driving.  I could have driven the narrow mountain road, which opened in 1861 as America’s first man-made tourist attraction.  But with an average grade of 12 degrees, the descent is worrisome: brakes can overheat and fail unless one stops often to let them cool.  As it turns out, during our visit the road is closed to cars beyond the 1,220-metre level anyway.  Because of visibility, of course.

Rik makes it to the top, however, because he drives a “stage,” the term a hangover from the days when tourists scaled the peak in horse-drawn carriages.  Today’s stage: a 2011 Chevy Express tricked out with special equipment to preserve the brakes.

The drive passes through four ecological zones.  Though we’re at the latitude of the French Riviera, we’ll reach Arctic Circle tundra about 520 metres above the treeline.  The treeline, by the way, is 2,130 metres lower than that of the U.S. Rockies.

“At first it doesn’t seem there’s much growing here,” Rik says as we ascend.  “But you realize the place teems with life as you become more aware of your surroundings.”  He points to the grass-like Bigelow sedge clinging to granite terrain, and Alpine wildflowers such as white diapensia and purple Lapland rosebay.  One plant, the Robbins cinquefoil, appears nowhere else on earth.

Rik makes sure we notice the balsam firs, too.  But really, who wouldn’t?  They’re just a half-metre tall at the treeline, despite a century’s growth.  He tells us, though, what we can’t see: the roots spread 90 metres.  “The power for life is so strong,” he says quietly. “It’s humbling to get so close to this incredible terrain.”

Atop the mountain, we meet Rebecca Scholand, a meteorologist at a non-profit weather observatory there.  She explains why the weather is so extreme.

“Mount Washington is basically the tail pipe of the United States,” she says.  It lies at the intersection of the nation’s three most active storm tracks, and lower mountains channel the prevailing northwest winds whipping down from Canada.  So cold winds from the north, water-bearing winds from the Atlantic, warm winds from the south — they conspire to wreak havoc here.

The next day dawns sunny and clear, so we decide to scale Mount Washington again, this time by the world’s original mountain-climbing cog railroad.  It carried its first passengers in 1869, when founder Sylvester Marsh hatched the idea for a safe, easy way to reach the summit.  Despite being lampooned for the idea, he persevered, and built an engineering marvel.  The most dangerous part is a trestle that’s a whopping 37.4 per cent grade and eight metres off the ground.

But Marsh wasn’t able to engineer the weather.  By the time we’re on our way, a lashing rain is falling.  Wind chill at the summit is -4°C. Wind speed varies between 65 and 95 kilometres per hour.  Passengers scurry into the shelter of the mountaintop museum.  Train windows fog up on the descent.

“I’m happy we came up again,” I say to my wife as we pose for photos, storm slickers flapping furiously.  “Again we see nothing, but this is such a different kind of foul day.”

The third morning finds us on the main street of North Conway, the area’s hub.  Most folks are headed to tax-free outlet shopping malls, for which the village is famous, but we’re off to the Weather Discovery Center, the education outpost of Mount Washington Observatory.

A high point is the simulated hut in which three weathermen measured that record-breaking wind in 1934.  We hear the wind whistle.  We feel the building rumble.  We see a blizzard via a video screen built into the window frame.  Kids can study tornados, learn the wind’s effect on water currents and pretend they’re TV meteorologists.

The place also explains how the observatory works — how meteorologists measure air pressure and wind speed, how something called the Venturi effect changes airflow on the mountain.

And a computer monitor reports that morning’s mountaintop conditions.  The wind: calm.  The sky: clear.  The temperature: balmy.  Of course.

IF YOU GO

Mount Washington is about four hours’ drive from Montreal.

Other area attractions include mountain biking and hiking through the White Mountain National Forest; rock climbing lessons at Cathedral Ledge; drives along the scenic 55-kilometre Kancamagus Highway, a national scenic byway; tax-free shopping at several brand-name outlet malls; and several family-friendly theme parks, including Santa’s Village and Storyland.

Accommodation can suit most tastes — and budgets.  For a romantic country inn, opt for Snowvillage Inn in Eaton Center; rooms are $130-$240 (all prices U.S.).  Families will like The Seasons, where spacious condo apartments begin at $100.  For a splurge, the Omni Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods is one of the few remaining New England grand hotels; rates run $300-$600 per night.  A newer resort with spa and golf course, the White Mountain Hotel and Resort near North Conway, averages $259-$269.

Try gourmet dinner at 1785 Inn and Restaurant or Inn at Crystal Lake; casual lunch at Black Cap Grille or Moat Mountain Smoke House; or locally sourced Mexican cuisine at Margarita Grill.