Ran into a traffic jam on the crux pitches and decided to bypass the other parties via the "old route" (supposedly 5.5) that goes around on the left side. It turned out to be much more difficult than expected - a lot of loose rock, occasionally tricky routefinding, unreliable protection, wet spots and slippery vegetation. In terms of pure technical difficulty, the climbing is indeed no harder than 5.5, but when you add up all the above factors, it becomes a considerably more difficult and dangerous undertaking than the modern route, IMO.
Started as a beautiful summer climb in the Whites, but Mt Washington stayed true to it's title and dumped some nasty weather on us. Finished up the climb in torrential rain, but continued on to the summit anyway. Ended up walking down the auto road in the dark.
AlexeyD - Jul 4, 2011 12:45 pm Date Climbed: Jul 2, 2011
"old route"Ran into a traffic jam on the crux pitches and decided to bypass the other parties via the "old route" (supposedly 5.5) that goes around on the left side. It turned out to be much more difficult than expected - a lot of loose rock, occasionally tricky routefinding, unreliable protection, wet spots and slippery vegetation. In terms of pure technical difficulty, the climbing is indeed no harder than 5.5, but when you add up all the above factors, it becomes a considerably more difficult and dangerous undertaking than the modern route, IMO.
kpthomson - Aug 29, 2008 12:38 pm
A great NE Alpine rock climbEvery summer, last time did the 5.8 variation. Still, the approach up ther talus field SUCKS!
Seth Maciejowski - Mar 9, 2008 10:00 pm
A great lineA fun romp up alpine terrain. Stay closer to the ridge to get more "fun". The Allis is a bit of a hump!
bidwelldk - Sep 15, 2006 8:37 pm
Bad WeatherStarted as a beautiful summer climb in the Whites, but Mt Washington stayed true to it's title and dumped some nasty weather on us. Finished up the climb in torrential rain, but continued on to the summit anyway. Ended up walking down the auto road in the dark.