Made a return trip to Mt Washington to avenge my previous short trip and make it to the actual summit. What a trip!
This time there had been no fresh snow for awhile and the snowpack was hard and crusty. We didn't even put our snowshoes on until we reached the Watershed boundardy. The entire trip can be done without snowshoes but in the bright sun the snow did get fairly soft.
The mile or two surrounding Owl Hike Spot is packed hard snow and ice, very slick. Bring traction devices if you have them. Further up the snow is uneven and slick but more manageable. There are some smaller blowdowns here to negotiate.
On reaching the road we decided to take the long route since none of us were familiar with the bushwack route. We hoped we might see a shortened route back after reaching the top.
Snow on the road is flat and crusted, easy walking. After curving around to the east side the snow is much softer and the drifts are bigger. The tread is much narrower here and on a slight slope making it easy to lose balance. We passed under the false summit, crossed over the narrow ridge top, and headed upwards towards the real summit.
Slightly before the summit climb we found a blue plastic sign tacked to a tree reading ""Unit1"".
The final climb to the top is slippery and steep but the views are awesome. Rainier popped out from behind its cloud just in time for a photo.
More trip photos: http://www.pbase.com/billcat/hiking
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