Senior Ascent of Mt. Washington
The story of the seniors' trip up Mt. Washington is best told in the account on several days from The Dartmouth.
Saturday, March 9
The D. O. C. senior Mt. Washington party of 16 men will leave this afternoon on the 2.04 train for Gorham. This is the third and largest senior group to attempt the ascent of New England's highest peak. The trip will not be inter-collegiate in nature as both the New Hampshire and Amherst Outing Clubs wired their inability to come because of examinations.
The itinerary of the party will be the same as that of the first one which left last week. Headquarters will be made at the Pinkham Notch Base Camp and tomorrow the hikers will climb Mt. Washington. Monday will find the party ascending into Tuckerman's Ravine on snowshoes and skis. If the weather conditions are suitable, they will attempt to scale the head wall of Tuckerman's and cross to the Lakes of the Clouds.
On Tuesday the men will return to the Glen House and leaving their packs there, ski part or all of the 19 miles into Carter Notch and up Carter Dome. Tuesday night will be spent in Gorham and on Wednesday the men will return to Hanover. Final directions were issued at a meeting held last night and crampons were distributed. H. H. Leich '29 has been made the official photographer to take charge of the moving pictures.
The first senior trip was in 1927 when 15 men led by R. J. Lougee '27 made the ascent. Last year the second senior party of 14 under the leadership of A. E. Clarke '29 reached the summit in the face of a 50-mile gale and unusually low temperature conditions.
Monday, March 11 (Special by Radio to The Dartmouth) BY H. M. BALL '29
A sixty-mile an hour gale prevented the Dartmouth Outing Club senior Mt. Washington party from reaching the summit of the mountain yesterday. The party of. 21 men skied to the Half Way House on the Carriage Road experiencing difficulty on parts of the route due to huge drifts of snow which had piled up since the trip of a week ago.
From the Half Way House a party of nine men started for the summit but about a half a mile above timber line they encountered a terrific gale which lashed their faces with snow and almost blew them from the road. There they were forced to turn back, a decision which proved timely as several men began to realize that their faces were frost-bitten.
After a rest at the Half Way House, much of the time being spent in keeping warm, the entire party started for the Base Camp on skis. The great thrill of the trip was on this down mountain slide of four miles as the wind had swept the snow off parts of the road uncovering glare ice. Frequent spills were experienced, but the only casualties were several pairs of broken skis and poles. The Jackson Trail part of the descent was especially fast.
Wednesday, March 13 (Special by Telegram from Berlin, N. H.)
Threats of unfavorable weather conditions prevented the Dartmouth Outing Club senior Mt. Washington trip from making its scheduled ascent of Mt. Washington by the carriage road.
To work off their stored-up energy a series of three boxing bouts in the deep snow outside the cabins was arranged. These bouts provided considerable entertainment for contestants and spectators alike as the footing was far from sure. The three bouts were: A. E. Clarke '29 vs. W. P. Coles '29, J. E. Cavanagh '29 vs. W. O. Keyes '29 and B. C. Wood 'BO vs. H. A. Clark '3O, the two assistant leaders.
The party then skied to the Glen House and several continued into Carter Notch. The group will remain over night at Gorham and take the early morning train for Hanover, arriving at 11.15.
(Courtesy Dartmouth Radio Assn.)
Led by A. E. Clarke '29 the 21 members of the D. O. C. senior Mt. Washington trip reached an elevation of 4000 feet in Tuckerman's Ravine Monday before imminent snowslides blocked further progress. Most of the party made the ascent by snowshoes up the steep A. M. C. Tuckerman Ravine Trail although five of the party succeeded in gaining the base of the headwall on skis.
A large snowslide had carried the outer surface of the snow-covered headwall down to the base thus resulting in trea.cherous climbing conditions. An advance group of nine had climbed half-way up the headwall when they decided to turn back because of the possibilities of a second slide. The party returned to the base camp in safety although a thr.illng descent was experienced. Several of the party enjoyed snow baths at the base camp and then took short ski runs in the vicinity of the hut.
CHARLIE PROCTOR '29, ON THE SUMMIT OF MOOSILAUKE, READY FOR THE ANNUAL D.O.C. DOWN MOUNTAIN RACE
