Little Bang Theory

Last Weekend In The White Mountains. February 9, 2010

I spent last weekend in New Hampshire’s White Mountains, diggin’ the Mount Washington Valley Ice Festival, a yearly celebration of ice climbers and their craft.

I used to be part of that scene, back when I had rotator cuffs, and will post a little bit about that later.

But for now, here are some scenic shots from my trip.

Firstly, Mount Washington, as seen from the banks of the Saco River just outside of North Conway:

This is the highest point in the Northeast, and though it’s not much over 6,000 feet in elevation, it hosts some of the most extreme weather in the world, for many years holding the record for recorded wind speed at over 230 miles per hour.

That’s windy.  I spent three weeks on Alaska’s Denali, and despite the fact that we hunkered down in some of the worst weather they’d had in a decade, it didn’t hold a candle to what I’d endured on numerous winter Mount Washington trips.

Anyway, here’s a Gizmo (my 400mm L-series lens) shot of sunset on the summit:

Taken from the same place, at about the same time.

Gawd, I loves me some Gizmo!

I was there with my photographic mentor Lizz, who had scoped out this spot on the banks of the Saco River.  She was busy snagging images as I did the same:

There was plenty to see, from the grand scenic down to the details.  Here’s one of a stranded ice chunk and a waning crescent moon:

The day ended with bitter winds which drove us to the pub for burgers and nachos, but not before I stopped to snag a quickie of the developing sunset:

The next day was spent in a slow retreat southward, with a couple of stops along the way for photography.  Here’s a view eastward from Kankamagus Pass, of a snowstorm in the area I’d just left:

And another of a footbridge ove the Pemigewasset River:

All in all, it was a satisfactory trip, though I froze my butt off, did minimal climbing (more on that later,) and got only a few photos for my efforts.