[HN Gopher] White Mountain Direttissima
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       White Mountain Direttissima
        
       Author : oftenwrong
       Score  : 29 points
       Date   : 2025-08-08 07:44 UTC (3 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (whitemountainski.co)
 (TXT) w3m dump (whitemountainski.co)
        
       | tasuki wrote:
       | For those of us not into imperial units: that last day is 96km
       | distance and 6km altitude gain. The previous days are a little
       | easier but not by much. Wild!
        
       | dinkblam wrote:
       | viewer discretion advised, that foot image should be banned
        
       | Wonnk13 wrote:
       | I love big stupid stuff like this. I didn't realize Ski the
       | Whites has rebranded into White Mountain Ski co. Everyone shits
       | on little 'ol new england, but the presidential range will chew
       | you up as anyone who has thru hikes the AT will tell you.
       | Suffering gives life meaning; go do hard stuff.
        
         | jcgrillo wrote:
         | Worst weather in the world!
        
           | beezle wrote:
           | I had friends up (Greens) in midish July and we were talking
           | about taking the trip over to the Shire to do Mt. Washington
           | the following day or two... until we checked the summit
           | forecast: temps in the 30s and wind chills around 15F.
           | Instead, we drank some beers did some chores and did the much
           | easier Camel's Hump!
        
             | jcgrillo wrote:
             | That sounds more pleasant. I think I remember seeing frost
             | or maybe some light snow up there around then.
        
             | Workaccount2 wrote:
             | The first time I visited it was 70F and sunny at the base,
             | and when I got to the summit it was 38F with a constant
             | 30mph wind and 70mph gusts, all in a dense fog. Truly an
             | unreal place to experience
        
       | PaulHoule wrote:
       | I walked all of that but not in one trip! Boy my knees hurt on
       | the descents.
        
         | foobarian wrote:
         | Went up and down Washington as a group of 20 somethings. Boy
         | were we suffering on the way down. At one point below the
         | treeline as we are crawling down, these two guys catch up to
         | us; they looked like they were in their 60s. Grey hair, thin as
         | twigs. They whooshed past us literally hopping rock-to-rock.
         | That one little moment had a lifelong impact on me ever after
         | as I though how nice it would be to be able to do the same at
         | that kind of age.
        
       | Pfiffer wrote:
       | Theres a really good interview with this guy on Singletrack, too:
       | https://open.spotify.com/episode/2Fjq9n2tNcXibfK6tWF5XO
       | 
       | Monster effort.
        
       | mcbobgorge wrote:
       | I grew up in New Hampshire and the White Mountains are such a
       | good playground for stuff like this. Big network of trails, all
       | kinds of terrain. Four very different seasons, lots of weather.
       | 
       | Basically anything you want to find in mountains, you can find in
       | the Whites. Ice climbing, mountaineering, multi-pitch trad
       | climbing, bushwhacking, easy trails, empty trails, whatever. I
       | was very lucky to be able to hike there.
        
       | russellbeattie wrote:
       | This is a weird link to be on the front page of HN.
       | 
       | > _" A niche, fringe project, but one that resonated deeply with
       | me because these are my mountains. This is my backyard."_
       | 
       | I grew up smack in the middle of the White Mountains with a clear
       | view of the presidential peaks. I have to say, at no point did I
       | think, "Huh, I really should climb all those."
       | 
       | That said, for pre-season high school cross country training one
       | year, we jogged up to the visitor center at the top of Mt.
       | Washington. Not many people can say they did that. I also had
       | friends who had summer jobs hauling building supplies and tools
       | up and down the Appalachian trails to maintain the trails and
       | huts. They were in insane shape when school started from carrying
       | bags of concrete mix or a stack of bricks up and back every day.
        
       | lumost wrote:
       | The whites are an amazing resource for mountain sports of all
       | levels. They are a bit deceptive as they lack the craggy above
       | tree line terrain, or altitude of younger ranges - but they
       | provide some of the longest and toughest trails in the world due
       | to steep rocky trails which lack switchbacks. The mountains are
       | mostly down to hard granite at this point, and as such don't have
       | the nice smooth trails of younger mountains.
        
       | dan-robertson wrote:
       | What is it that makes this route a direttissima? I'm not super
       | familiar with the term.
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2025-08-11 23:00 UTC)