Traversing The Presidential Range

With the various larger, and longer mountain ranges in the U.S., including the Rockies and the Appalachians, the Presidential Range often gets overlooked and forgotten. Sitting mostly within New Hampshire, the peaks that make up the Presidential Range don't stretch for miles, but they do reach as high as 6288 feet on Mt. Washington.

A traverse of the Presidential range is a popular pursuit amongst adventurers looking to for a great challenge. It involves hiking the entire 19-mile long ridge, while bagging some of the top peaks in the range. The entire hike involves more than 8500 feet of vertical gain, and offers amazing views for miles in all directions. The whole thing is captured quite nicely on the video below, with a group of hikers making the traverse in the winter. Looks great!

My Presidential Range Traverse from George Karaffa on Vimeo.

Mt. Washington No Longer The Windiest Place On Earth

For years, Mt. Washington, located in the state of New Hampshire here in the U.S., has been described as the windiest place on Earth, thanks to a 75 year old record for the highest wind speed ever recorded. The mark was set back in 1934, when gusts reached a speed of 231 miles per hour on the summit of the 6,288 foot peak, which is legendary for it's incredibly bad weather.

Now, according to the Adventure Life, that record has been wrestled away from Mt. Washington, and the new crown has been handed over to the Aussies. It seems that when cyclone Olivia hit barrow island back in 1996, it generated winds of 253 miles per hour, smashing those light breezes on Mt. Washington.

Why did it take so long to discover these wind speeds? Apparently a group of scientists were recently combing through weather and climate data, and discovered the mighty wind. Once it was discovered however, the findings were reported to meteorological services, and the new record became recognized, taking a little pride away from those that live on and around Mt. Washington.

Never fear though. The mountain still has plenty to brag about. It is a challenging climb in good weather conditions, and it's notoriously bad winters make it a tough test in the snow. It has even managed to make the list of some of the most dangerous mountains to climb. Not something you'd expect out of a peak that is less than 6300 feet in height.