Region
Highlights
- Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern US and the most prominent peak in the Eastern US.
- Famous for its dangerously erratic weather - be prepared in any season for huge swings in weather.
- Long held the world record for the highest wind gust directly measured at the Earth's surface, 231 mph. February 2023 set the US record for coldest wind chill at -108 F.
- Many trails lead to the summit, including the Appalachian Trail, which crosses the summit.
- Lakes of the Clouds Hut, one of the Appalachian Mountain Club's eight mountain huts, is located on one of the mountain's shoulders.
- The mountain has two prominent glacial cirques. Craggy Huntington Ravine offers rock and ice climbing in an alpine setting. And by far the more famous Tuckerman Ravine is New England's classic late-spring pilgrimage for spring backcountry skiing as late as June.
- Unfortunately, an auto road and also a cog railway lead to the summit.
- Agiochook (also spelled Agiocochook) is the name used by some Native American tribes. It means "the top is so hidden" or "the summit of the highest mountain".
- Mt. Washington (Agiocochook) was the northern termination of a trip taken by Henry David Thoreau, as described in his book "A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers" (Page 258 of the Easton Press edition).
Routes
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96 summits • 12.4 mi • 4,997 ft gain • 8 hr 1 min • Class 2
25 summits • 6.2 mi • 3,021 ft gain • 6 hr 11 min • Class 1
19 summits • 8.3 mi • 4,339 ft gain • 5 hr 41 min • Class 2
18 summits • 18.1 mi • 6,435 ft gain • 11 hr 40 min • Class 1
14 summits • 10.7 mi • 4,362 ft gain • 9 hr 17 min • Class 1
2 summits • 9.3 mi • 4,214 ft gain • 10 hr 0 min
1 summit • 4.2 mi • 3,615 ft gain • 3 hr 14 min
1 summit • 0.7 mi • 72 ft gain • 45 min
1 summit • 11.0 mi • 4,198 ft gain • 9 hr 14 min
1 summit • 11.5 mi • 4,079 ft gain • 6 hr 18 min
1 summit • 11.9 mi • 4,115 ft gain • 10 hr 2 min
1 summit • 12.2 mi • 7,111 ft gain • 8 hr 15 min
1 summit • 12.5 mi • 4,971 ft gain • 8 hr 14 min
1 summit • 12.8 mi • 5,177 ft gain • 7 hr 15 min
1 summit • 14.8 mi • 7,164 ft gain • 9 hr 11 min
1 summit • 1.4 mi • 381 ft gain • 1 hr 10 min
1 summit • 19.0 mi • 7,788 ft gain • 12 hr 51 min
1 summit • 23.3 mi • 8,222 ft gain • 22 hr 2 min
1 summit • 24.9 mi • 7,670 ft gain • 14 hr 9 min
1 summit • 25.2 mi • 8,924 ft gain
1 summit • 5.3 mi • 4,101 ft gain • 5 hr 5 min
1 summit • 8.7 mi • 3,785 ft gain • 6 hr 52 min
Latest summits
"A Monroe, Washington, Jefferson hike for my Grid and calendar day. Hiked up Ammonoosuc Ravine Tr. From Gem Pond, I used my microspikes on the ascent. I ascended into a cloud and had no views on Monroe and on Washington. On the way over to Jefferson, the cloud cover was breaking up. I dropped my snowshoes just past Jewell Tr. On Jefferson, I had views, but Washington was still in the clouds. I headed back to Jewell Tr and down that, making good time coming down. I was beat after today's hike. Saw a short tailed weasel below the summit of Jeff!!!" — newenglandwarrior • May 3, 2024
"Took advantage of some warm October weather for this climb. The summit had already received several inches of snow and traction was recommended. But we found all the snow was gone, light winds, in the low 50s on top. Not much sun either. Up Ammonoosuc to Crawford, down Great Gulf to Jewell." — Alohabuffy • Oct 26, 2023
"Hiked up huntington ravine trail one day after 3-4 inches of rain and flood warnings, which was probably not a smart choice in hindsight, but we made it all the way to the technical part of the trail, which was very treacherous due to a stream running down the smooth rock face. We sadly had to turn around after one of the members in our party slipped twicr and lost all confidence" — noahthackeray • Jul 17, 2023
"Were fortunate to have a weather window between major northeast storms this week. Basically an 8 mile boulder hop. Pretty beautiful despite the crowds. An odd feeling to hike to the summit and then see all the cars trains and tourists taking their picture with the summit sign.
" — BryHong8 • Jul 15, 2023
"The weather ended up turning out very nicely. Up from Pinkham notch via Lions Head. Across the Alpine Garden but still not many flowers. Up over Ball Crag to summit of Washington. The Cog had just dumped a 100 people off so the place was swarming. Mostly cloudy with light winds, no rain or fog at the top. Down to the Lake of the Clouds and Monroe summit. Finished walking out Ammooosuc Ravine." — Alohabuffy • Jun 20, 2023
"After first driving up the Auto Road for the first sunrise drive this year, and the wind died down from 50mph to about 25mph, I hiked over the loop to Mt. Clay, and ended up climbing back up the Crawford Path to the summit. I had my doubts about this possibility during the sunrise, but it turned out to be an awesome hiking day. Met some thru hikers and lots of day hikers along the way and got some long time peaks accomplished." — SteveM_StickMan • Jul 24, 2022
"The weather was buggy in the morning with a lot of fog and high wind. We decided to go explore a little at the bottom of the ravine and the weather started to clear. The higher we went, the better the weather was... until we reached (again!) the summit. Pretty cool day playing in the mountains we love so much ! " — HoJo • Jul 2, 2022
"After Mount Monroe on a beautiful sunny day with Maryellen, Nancy, Chris, and Tina. 1.5 miles from Lake of the Clouds Hut. Going from cairn to cairn. Lots of traffic along the way. Piles of people at the top from the cog railway. Waited in line to get summit picture. " — lfrancois • Jun 26, 2022
"Molly needed Washington and Jefferson for winter. We reached the Ammo trailhead and were informed by other hikers that the Jewell Tr was barely broken out. So we headed up Ammo to at least get Monroe and Washington in January. We used snowshoes to go up Ammo. We dropped our packs at the Hut and darted up to tag Monroe. We then switched into spikes back at the Hut and made our way up Washington. We were feeling pretty decent, so we decided to make a go for Jefferson. The wind picked up on the northern side of Washington. We slowly made our way up Jefferson and tagged the summit. We then came back and used a shortcut to get further down the Jewell Tr. The trail was broken out at this point. We made our way down and eventually reached the car. Molly now has 1 peak remaining for her NH48w." — newenglandwarrior • Jan 22, 2022
"Steady rain throughout the entire hike and very foggy, but it made Tuckerman's Ravine and the waterfall look so epic. Cold and windy on the summit, but hot soup and mac & cheese inside the visitor's center provided a nice refuel before hiking back down through the miserable weather. Place was packed with tourists that either drove or rode the train up. Regardless of weather, I always love hiking in this range." — jodola • Oct 2, 2021
Photos
Awards
Challenges
About peakery awards
Log successful summits on peakery to earn awards:
Peak Badges: Earn a special badge for each unique peak you summit. See all of your badges on your Badges page.
First Ascent Award: Only 1 available per peak. Goes to the first peakery member to log a successful summit of a peak. Snag this award and the peak will forever bear your name.
King of the Mountain Award: Only 1 available per peak. Summit a peak more times than any other member. Beware: this award can be lost!
Summit Steward: Summit a peak at least 5 times to become one of its Summit Stewards. As Steward of a peak, you’re encouraged to keep that peak’s info up-to-date on peakery and spread goodwill on your future climbs up the peak.