Many Ways of Traversing Mount Washington

The February 2009 edition of National Geographic arrived this week. There on the cover were two magical words "Mount Washington". Mount Washington(6,288 ft), the highest peak in the northeastern United States, is located in the Presidential Range of the White Mountains of New Hampshire. What makes this article, Backyard Arctic, all the more interesting to me is that for 12 years I lived within 20 miles of this magical peak. Over those years each member of my immediate family had their own experience with the mountain. There are many ways of traversing Mount Washington and we lived to tell about it.

If you have never heard of Mount Washington you might be quick to ask: "What do you mean you lived to tell about it, Mount Washington only has an elevation of 6,288 ft?" I, too, was skeptical when I first arrived in New Hampshire in 1985. After all I had lived most of my life in Southern California where a 6,288 ft peak might be considered a foothill. As a young adult I had backpacked to the top of Mount San Gorgonia (11,499 ft) and San Jacinto Peak (10,834 ft). I had lived in Alaska and toured Denali National Park to witness Mount McKinley (20,320 ft), but after living in New Hampshire for a very short time I learned that Mount Washington is "Home to the World's Worst Weather", holding the all-time surface wind speed record of 231 mph (April 12, 1934). And sadly, Mount Washington is one of the 10 deadliest mountains in the world!

Perhaps what makes this jewel of the White Mountains so deadly is its accessibility and unfortunately not everyone who visits is prepared for the fact that the weather can turn quickly. You do not have to be a hiker, backpacker, proficient ice-climber, or skier to enjoy this mountain. Since 1861 people have been driving up the Mount Washington Auto Road, the oldest man made attraction in America. Not interested in driving up the mountain? Then you can ride to the top on the Cog Railway which has been carrying passengers since 1869. If you are really adventurous, then in the Spring you can hike up the mountain with your skis on your back and ski down the bowl, Tuckerman's Ravine.

And if all this is not enough to capture your imagination there are races to the top of Mount Washington. The Climb to the Clouds, an auto race, was held in 1904 and continues to this day. There is the Mount Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hill Climb, a tradition for the past 36 years; the Ride to the Sky for motorcyclists; for runners there is the Mount Washington Road Race, and most years there is the Nordic Ski to the Clouds Race (North America's Toughest 10K).

I started this post by saying each member of my family had been to the top of the mountain and lived to tell about it. Since they are a little reticent to share their feats with you, I will. Enjoy today's photos from the family scrapbook...
Around 1989 Dennis hiked up Mount Washington with a number of our guests from Cranmore Mountain Lodge. It was a Spring day and they were going to ski Tuckerman's Ravine. While Dennis opted out of the ski run, he did hike up and down the mountain that day.

I believe it was 1992 when Dennis convinced Aaron (who was about 11 at the time)
to hike up the mountain with another group of guests. Not only did Aaron hike up the mountain, but being a proficient downhill ski racer, he skied the bowl.


In 1996, Daniel, a ski racer from the age of four, was the youngest competitor in the inaugural nordic Ski to the Clouds Race. He was 12! Not only was he the youngest to compete, but he finished the race.


At this point you are probably wondering how I traversed Mount Washington. Take a guess? You are correct...in a Mt. Washington Auto Road Stage Line Van driven by a tour guide. I was taking no chances. I had to live to tell about it. Today the Mount Washington Auto Road also offers the SnowCoach, weather permitting.

There is so much to learn about Mount Washington and so many ways to do it. Until you have a chance to experience it for yourself, I invite you to visit the sites referenced here today. One of my favorites is The Mount Washington Observatory. The history and majesty of this mountain will intrigue you. But you will learn that while man's ingenuity continues to try to tame and groom this mountain, it remains a force of nature that we can and must respect.

I would like to thank Howie Wemyss, a trustee for the Observatory. This week I contacted Howie at Great Glen Trails to ask if the records still existed regarding the 1996 Ski to the Clouds Race. Howie was nice enough to write me back: "I remember the race very well and how impressed we all were with your son...but unfortunately all of the records were destroyed in a fire in 2001." At Howie's suggestion I contacted Tom Thurston, Daniel's fifth grade teacher and X-Country ski coach. Tom, too, has fond memories of this race: "I remember that day on the toll road when he (Dan) skied the Ski to the Clouds. He was so tired but loved the ski back down."

As I sign off today I would like you to know that the current conditions on Mount Washington (9:45 AM EST 01/24/2009) are:
Temperature -7.6 degrees F
Wind 71.7 mph
Direction 298 degrees (NW)
Gust 76.0 mph
Wind Chill -46.2 degress F

A great spot for Geocaching!
If you have been to Mount Washington, let me know about your experience.

Blogs should tell a good story

Over the course of any week I receive a number of SEO/Webmaster newsletter emails. I try to read through them for hints, myths, SEO/SMO news in general. This past week one of these newsletters had a link to a video in which Sally Falkow was discussing Internet marketing. I don't know Sally Falkow but I found what she had to say very intriguing. She sited an old mantra "Tell, don't sell", which I believe applies to blogs, in that blogs should tell a good story.

Now you are probably wondering where I am going with this idea. After all it is Saturday morning and you no doubt, if you are reading this at all, are thinking to yourself with a sigh, "doesn't Judy always tell a story in her blog post?"

It is very easy for the Webconsuls' team to suggest to a client that the client should have a blog, but most clients go into panic mode because they don't trust themselves to be able to write. What our clients sometimes forget is that every business has a story to tell and all they have to do is relate the story for their guests, customers, or clients to read. Just tell a good story.

Finding your niche in storytelling can take some time. Let me give you an example. In June 2007 Webconsuls built a blog for Alice and Len Schiller, owners/innkeepers of The Inn at Stockbridge. Darin McClure coached Alice on how to do blog posts and she did a nice job. She frequently would write about events and attractions in the Berkshires. All very interesting, but might have served the local attractions more than the inn.

On December 29, 2008, Alice came up with a clever idea and she posted it: "The Inn at Stockbridge blog is going to put a new spin on things. Alice Schiller feels that she is fortunate enough to have owned and run the inn for over fourteen years. Over the years we have had a great variety of guests visit us and each one has a wonderful story to share. We are now going to share their stories. Guests who visit the Inn come from all walks of life, are a varied age group and have met in a myriad of ways and have wonderful tidbits to share with you the readers of this blog. We are fortunate enough to have them share their experiences at the Inn as well as their stories with you."

Wonderful...the stories have begun, complete with photos, so interesting to read and the best part is Alice and Len are involving their guests (read customers). As a former innkeeper I know that relating stories about your guests is a great marketing tool. People love to be part of something and future guests secretly hope that they will also be featured at some later date.





You may recall, on September 20, 2008, I wrote a blog post called "The benefit of being a 'blogger-in-chief'?" In that blog I talked about how I wrote a newsletter for our inn, Cranmore Mountain Lodge. This was the old fashion way of staying in touch with our customers. Just this past week I came across a copy of the last issue of Inn-Ovations that I wrote in the Fall of 1997. You might enjoy reading the front page. Click on the image and it will get bigger!




Today I hope you will check the Inn at Stockbridge's blog. Read the stories about their guests. Leave a comment. And if you want to preview the inn, here is a video that tells the Inn's story in another way.



I have a feeling Sally Falkow has not come up with something unique. Storytelling is as old as mankind ~ it is the fabric that keeps our cultures, our families, our nations moving through time.

Could Napoleon be the father of Geocaching?

What do you know about geocaching? I know very little, but have you ever thought about why we have odd and even house numbers? I have to admit I don't spend a lot of time thinking about this concept, but the other evening I happened to be watching the History Channel about Napoleon and the commentator mentioned that it was Napoleon that came up with the idea of odd numbers on one side of a street and even numbers on the opposite side of the street. No big deal, you might say. But think about how this simple idea impacts your daily life: mail delivery, GPS, visitors, emergency support...the list goes on. OMG, could Napoleon be the father of Geocaching?

I am not going to bore you with a whole history of street numbering, but it occurred to me that I have lived long enough to remember life before Zip Codes (pre 1963) and I have lived in enough different communities to know how challenging life can be when you don't have a numbering system. In today's world this is akin to not having order in the World Wide Web. Order is what makes the Internet work and allows all of us to stay in touch.

The first time I learned about life with mail delivery placed in a road side box was in Anchorage, AK. It was 1983 and we were transferred to Alaska. Our house address was 15040 Platinum Circle; however, our mailing address was SRA (Star Route Assignment)Box 460, Anchorage, AK 99507. Just when I had all of our friends trained to send mail to the SRA address, the USPS decided that we had to start using our actual street address for mail. Hmmmm...wouldn't you know that was the year that I was president of the home owners association and we had to build a whole new series of postal boxes which needed to be identical in every way, clearly marked with our street addresses (as opposed to the SRA addresses), and all 20 boxes had to be attached to a sturdy metal pole system. (Thank god a number of the neighbors were engineers that worked on the North Slope - read not Dennis).

In late 1985 we moved to Conway, New Hampshire. Now one would think that since New Hampshire was one of the 13 original colonies, street numbers would be old hat. WRONG! 90% of the homes and businesses did not have street numbers, for that matter, most roads were not clearly marked or had many different names for the same road. For example, Main Street in Conway Village was also known as RT16/RT113. I worked for Indian Head Bank North which was located on Main Street. Vendors would ask me for my business address and I would simply say "Indian Head Bank North, Main St, Conway, NH 03818". The vendor would repeatedly say what is the street number and I would simply say "we don't have street numbers!"

By late 1986 we purchased our country inn on Kearsarge Rd, Village of Kearsarge, Town of Conway, Carroll County, New Hampshire. We did not have a street number. Our mail went to P O Box 1194, North Conway, NH 03860 (only because for marketing purposes more people recognized North Conway, as opposed to Kearsarge Village, which had its own zip code, 03847). Are you confused yet? In late 1996 Conway Town Officials decided we all needed to put street numbers on our homes and businesses, because if we were to dial 911 the fire, rescue and police needed to know how to find us. You don't want to know how many properties burned to the ground in the old days when buildings had no addresses and we depended on volunteer fire departments. So in 1996, Cranmore Mountain Lodge received its street number: 859 Kearsarge Rd, Kearsarge, NH 03847. 175 years after Napoleon's death(1821)!

So today when you are searching for an address using the Internet, your GPS navigation system, your iPhone, or GeoCaching...thank Napoleon for being so practical. For fun here is a YouTube video called Geocaching Napoleon. I have no idea what it is about, because I don't speak French, but maybe it is fitting.