Issues → January/February 2007 → Travel →
Mount Washington Valley: Winter's Hometown
by Mel Allen
If winter could settle down and just stay, this is where it should be: in a valley rimmed with mountains, peopled by skiers and climbers who see a 200-foot frozen waterfall as an invitation; where ice skates never grow rusty; where pubs fill in the evening with ruddy-cheeked youth sharing that day's adventure; where hotels have seen a century's worth of visitors who come because of the mountains, not the beds.
Some 28 small towns and villages claim the valley for their personal geography, and within these towns you'll find seven alpine resorts, more than 200 miles of snowmobile trails, and 300 miles of cross-country trails -- but it's the mood, the desire for winter to come full blast and to linger, that sets the valley and its people apart from anywhere I know. Here's a starter kit for enjoying a Mount Washington snow day.
International Mountain Climbing School
One winter morning, I climbed Mount Washington with a guide from the International Mountain Climbing School in North Conway. He showed me how to climb in crampons, how to thrust my ice axe hard into the ground if I suddenly found myself sliding out of control. Above tree line, in the teeth of a brutal wind, I felt I would be borne aloft like some parka-clad kite. At the summit, the buildings were shrouded in rime ice, stark and beautiful, a landscape I'd never seen before. [DETAILS]
Mount Washington Resort at Bretton Woods
It’s 5:15 p.m. at the Mount Washington Hotel. As if on cue, everyone inside makes their way outside to the sweeping veranda. A pink glow spreads across the flanks of Mount Washington. Slowly, the light slides away, leaving the mountain in darkness. This is the eighth year the grand hotel has been open in winter, and I wonder, Who looked at the mountain light this way when it was closed all those years? [DETAILS]
Cranmore Mountain Resort
With the slopes lit bright, the shouts come not from skiers but from throngs of spinning children, teens, and adults - all trying for speed in the snow industry's newest craze: tubing. Two slopes are dedicated just to this. When there's too much snow, the rides slow down, but last winter brought hard, icy slopes - a skier's nemesis, a tuber's delight. [DETAILS]
Weather Discovery Center
So this is what it felt like on April 12, 1934, on the top of Mount Washington, when the wind reached 231 miles per hour -- the fiercest recorded wind over land in history. I am inside the replica of the summit cabin from that day in the Weather Discovery Center. The cabin shudders as the simulated wind begins to shake the room, then soon I am engulfed by vibration and roaring. The Discovery Center is devoted to climate and weather, and five minutes inside this cauldron of noise will make you feel awe for the men and women who live and study weather atop the mountain's summit. The center features diverse weather-related exhibits, and a few times a day you can join a videoconference, held in a cozy theater, with the weather observers. They emerge on screen, and it's like talking to astronauts. [DETAILS]
Reader Comments
Comment from Kathy Radford on January 9, 2009
As a freelance photographer I'd say the Mount Washington Valley is one of my favorite spots in NH. It has so much to offer, beautiful scenery, shopping, wonderful cozy inns and B&B's, skiing, snowmobiling, a shopaholics dream, wonderful food and restaurants to satisify even the most discriminating diner.
It's a rare treat no matter what time of the year you arrive. Be sure to check out the Weather Center, Zeb's Country Store and be sure to take the Notch Trip on the Conway Scenic Railroad those stops are real gems. Once you come to the area you will want to come back time and time again. For me it's a magnet that I just cant resist.
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