(If) This Jeep climbed Mt. Washington - is that bad?

scoobysnax · **Posted:** Mon May 05, 2008 10:30 pm

I might have a chance to go to Mt. Washington this summer. For those who don’t know it’s the tallest mountain in the North East, and there is a toll road that you can drive to get to the top. I think it’s a 7 miles trip up and 7 back. Peak elevation is over 6,000 and I think the base starts around 3,000 or maybe a little more. Either way it’s a long way up. I want to get up there so I can get a peak at Tuckerman’s Ravine in person and see if I think I can hike up it and Snowboard down it next spring.

I have a 2004 with the 42RLE transmission. I know how to use the O/D and I’ll probably use 2nd and 1st gear lock out a bit on the way up to prevent the transmission from jumping around to find the right gears. Going down I’ll use the transmission to slow me down so I shouldn’t have to use the brakes (much.)

The question is will the drive hurt the Jeep? They have a van or a cog train that can take you to the top and some people have told my wife that you shouldn’t drive your own car b/c it’ll kill it. We’ve taken the toll road to the top of Mt. Mansfield (Stowe, VT) and I thought that was fine and no big deal for the jeep.

What do you think? No big deal if you do it right right?

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Mon May 05, 2008 10:39 pm

That's nothing,Vail pass here in CO you go from about 5500ft to over 10,000ft,I do it at 65mph,no sweat.You can come here and drive up Pikes Peak,well over 14,000ft,many do it in minivans.

daspes · **Posted:** Mon May 05, 2008 10:45 pm

Ditto no worries. My KJ has been from sea level to 8,600 to 4k to 7k to 5k, to 7k and back to sea level all in one day. Several times. Good times!

JL Rockies · **Posted:** Mon May 05, 2008 10:58 pm

I've driven up Mt Evans (highest paved road in northern hemisphere they say) in a rented mini van, JL Audio's $50K VW Golf and Funk Master Flex's $100K Expedition. No problem. Watch out for the hundreds of cyclist that go up and down each day though.

Tokyojoe · **Posted:** Mon May 05, 2008 11:50 pm

Do a little research on Mt Washington. It has the highest recorded wind speed EVER recorded in the world (231 mph) and is a terror to get to during the winter. Just don't try it in the winter. That's my suggestion and I am sticking to it....
:lol:

durangotang · **Posted:** Tue May 06, 2008 12:05 am

Tokyojoe wrote:

Do a little research on Mt Washington. It has the highest recorded wind speed EVER recorded in the world (231 mph) and is a terror to get to during the winter. Just don't try it in the winter. That's my suggestion and I am sticking to it....
:lol:

Hey now... I have been up Mt. Washington in the winter... and...well... yeah you should probably stay off of it :lol:

And as far as the drive in concerned... depending on which way i go, just driving to Denver requires me to go 5k-10k-5k-10k a couple of times

scoobysnax · **Posted:** Tue May 06, 2008 12:17 am

good, I thought the same thing and need to convince her of the it too. I want to get a look at the top of the ridge to be sure I can ride down it on my board. For the last 12 years it's been a dream of mine to hike up Tuckerman's Ravine (that’s the back side of Mt. Washington) and snowboard down it. I'm pretty confident I'll be able to do it, but I want to look at it from the top of the lip down and see be sure I'll be able to drop in when the time comes. Everything is steeper in person

And yea, if you check out the web page it can be a crazy place to go. Over a hundred people have died there in the last hundred years. Exposure to the weather, avalanches and hiking/skiing/snowboarding accidents are the causes. It’s not a place you go for a backcountry trip unless you’re over prepared. Hopefully in April next year I’ll make the trip.

http://timefortuckerman.com/

scoobysnax · **Posted:** Tue May 06, 2008 12:18 am

good, I thought the same thing and need to convince her of that too. I want to get a look at the top of the ridge to be sure I can ride down it on my board. For the last 12 years it's been a dream of mine to hike up Tuckerman's Ravine (that’s the back side of Mt. Washington) and snowboard down it. I'm pretty confident I'll be able to do it, but I want to look at it from the top of the lip down and see be sure I'll be able to drop in when the time comes. Everything is steeper in person

And yea, if you check out the web page it can be a crazy place to go. Over a hundred people have died there in the last hundred years. Exposure to the weather, avalanches and hiking/skiing/snowboarding accidents are the causes. It’s not a place you go for a backcountry trip unless you’re over prepared. Hopefully in April next year I’ll make the trip.

http://timefortuckerman.com/

Inc · **Posted:** Tue May 06, 2008 1:05 am

The scenic pass over Mt. Rose in my backyard is 8,911 feet and cars go over it by the hundreds every day for work commutes. You should have zero issues.

newjeep123 · **Posted:** Tue May 06, 2008 7:50 am

The road up Mt Washington is actually pretty good, just a little steep here and there. Any car can get up it just fine. The only thing you want to watch is that your brakes heat up on the way down, so stopping now and then to let them cool off is a good idea. They have a bike race and an auto race on this road so it's not off roading by any means.

dirtykj · **Posted:** Tue May 06, 2008 8:33 am

The KJ's can easily go on "Top of the World" (elevation 7000 ft) in Moab and that's off-road, not toll road. The West guys go to DV all the time and there are places in DV that are at 8-9000ft elevation.

I'd say you can do it, easily, on toll roads.

But yeah, people die there every year like you said, so please pack enough for emergency.

KW AV8R · **Posted:** Tue May 06, 2008 8:51 am

I have driven the Pikes Peak road in my KJ and had no issues. Pikes Peak is about 10 miles outside of Colorado Springs proper (6000') and and tops out at over 14000'. There are a couple of places here that have steep uphills, tight switchbacks, and steep downhills all within a mile. Trying to maintain 20 mph on these roads require the trans to shift almost continuously and most KJs with the 42RLE trans have the temp light come on. If this happens on your drive, just pull over, enjoy the scenery for about 5 minutes, jump back in and continue on. Of course, I would mention this to the wife before so that she doesn't freak out when the light comes on. It's really not a huge deal, just have to let the tranny cool for a bit.

scoobysnax wrote:

(If) This car climbed Mt. Washington - is that bad?

For the record, it's not a car, it's a JEEP! :wink:

scoobysnax · **Posted:** Tue May 06, 2008 9:36 am

Fulltimer · **Posted:** Tue May 06, 2008 10:36 am

If you need a little jolt before hitting it there is a great coffee shop in town! :shock:

Terry

adamkrz · **Posted:** Tue May 06, 2008 3:40 pm

I was at Tuckerman's 3 weeks ago, Hiked in from Pinkham Notch, It was an awesome place,Too much for my skills but my buddy's all snowboarded down..

Sir Sam · **Posted:** Tue May 06, 2008 3:50 pm

scoobysnax wrote:

I might have a chance to go to Mt. Washington this summer. For those who don’t know it’s the tallest mountain in the North East, and there is a toll road that you can drive to get to the top. I think it’s a 7 miles trip up and 7 back. Peak elevation is over 6,000 and I think the base starts around 3,000 or maybe a little more. Either way it’s a long way up. I want to get up there so I can get a peak at Tuckerman’s Ravine in person and see if I think I can hike up it and Snowboard down it next spring.

I have a 2004 with the 42RLE transmission. I know how to use the O/D and I’ll probably use 2nd and 1st gear lock out a bit on the way up to prevent the transmission from jumping around to find the right gears. Going down I’ll use the transmission to slow me down so I shouldn’t have to use the brakes (much.)

The question is will the drive hurt the Jeep? They have a van or a cog train that can take you to the top and some people have told my wife that you shouldn’t drive your own car b/c it’ll kill it. We’ve taken the toll road to the top of Mt. Mansfield (Stowe, VT) and I thought that was fine and no big deal for the jeep.

What do you think? No big deal if you do it right right?

Only 3k feet elevation gain? Pfff, a geo can do that! Don't worry you'll be fine.

Just for reference, you would have no problem getting here:

raceinfan · **Posted:** Tue May 06, 2008 5:47 pm

I live 2hrs from Mt. Washington, you'll be fine, they will instruct how to drive up & down ( at least ask though)

The road is a narrow 2 lanes & becareful of the vans ( thier idiots as far as I'm consirned), I haven't been there since the 80's but it was quite fun & give your brakes time to cool after you WILL be using them ALOT on the way down, first gear may help in braking

SORRY didn't mean to scare ya if I did :wink:

jason thompson · **Posted:** Tue May 06, 2008 10:48 pm

dont worry about it you do drive a Jeep
we drove our KJ all over the smokies several times up some REALLY steep back roads and to pass another suv you had to hang off the edge a little we did it in both the summer and late fall ,most of the "good roads" get closed in the winter due to ice
we drove some roads that some of the locals dont like to drive
I dont know if that makes us brave or stupid

Pote · **Posted:** Wed May 07, 2008 7:50 pm

6000 feet....you can jog that.

if our KJs can't make it up that, there's problems. Like someone said, out west, that's a daily commute in a minivan.

Jase3gt · **Posted:** Thu May 08, 2008 9:36 pm

Tokyojoe wrote:

Do a little research on Mt Washington. It has the highest recorded wind speed EVER recorded in the world (231 mph) and is a terror to get to during the winter. Just don't try it in the winter. That's my suggestion and I am sticking to it....
:lol:

They close the road in the winter. They have these vans with tracks on them that you can take but that's it. They also have some snow shoeing trips up to the top in the winter, and I think on like New Years or something you can stay the night. They also have two week trips to stay up at the top and help out at the observatory.

Also don't plan on going yet, they only have the road open to the tree line. I was checking it out the other day.

(If) This Jeep climbed Mt. Washington - is that bad?

Who is online