Mt. Washington, An All-Season Playground for Extreme Races: 2026 Events – by Ham Mehlman

Major organized competitions on Mt. Washington in 2026

It just seems to be human nature to want to compete, to determine the fastest, fittest and most skilled, to challenge the extremes.  Some find reward in pain; others seek the thrill of accomplishment and competition.

Mt. Washington, being the highest peak in the Northeast, at 6,288 ft., having the biggest elevation profile of any mountain this side of the Mississippi, and already anointed “home of extreme” for its weather, is a natural location for just such extreme challenges. It is the “biggest, baddest mountain in the East.” It serves up thrills and plenty of pains to even the fittest and most skilled.

Mt. Washington’s topography, with its steep, walled, glacial cirques, wide girth and alpine top poking the troposphere, poses plenty of challenge on its own. Ever since Darby Field proved in 1642 that we could climb to the top and survive, we’ve been clambering over its slopes, routing trails to race up and down.

Add a road, a railway and some seasonal snow and you have a very large and unique multi-venue arena for sport.   

In 1861, Joseph Thompson guided a horse-drawn vehicle up a narrow 7.6-mile, dirt carriage path to the summit.  Today, cars ascending this now paved road, the “Mt. Washington Auto Road”, can paste a bumper sticker reading “This car climbed Mt. Washington” on their vehicle. Per the Auto Road website, “The Mt. Washington Auto Road in New Hampshire is one of the steepest and most challenging roads in the world, with an average grade of 12%, featuring sections of 18% and reaching up to 22% in the final, 50-yard stretch. It is generally considered the steepest in the Northeast….”  Until the 1970’s, most of the roadbed was dirt or gravel.  The road was not fully paved until 2022.  The types of vehicles and races varied with the changes in road surface over time.

Not to be outdone, on the west side of the mountain, the Mount Washington Cog Railway, the first of its design in the world, chugs up 3,600 vertical feet over 2.7 miles of track from Marshfield Station to the summit.  “It is the second-steepest rack railway in the world, after the Pilatus Railway in Switzerland, with an average grade of over 25% and a maximum grade of 37%.” 

Exiting Tuckerman during the 2025 Inferno

And the winter snows offer another extreme challenge for descending.  Skiing from the summit over the headwall in Tuckerman Ravine and down the John Sherburne Ski Trail to Joe Dodge Lodge in Pinkham Notch is one of the biggest and most extreme ski descents in North America.  Tuckerman Ravine is arguably the birthplace of extreme backcountry skiing in the United States with thousands now testing their skills on its 50-plus degree pitches every year.  

Naturally, we’ve contrived ways to compete on each of these paths of conveyance from base to summit, summit to base and both directions.  Whether on foot, bicycle or in a vehicle, each path and race offers its own thrills, challenges and pains.  Why do we undertake these challenges?  Perhaps some variation of the famous British mountaineer George Mallory’s quote about climbing Everest applies – “because it’s there”.

And then there are plenty of unorganized, perhaps contrived, but still extraordinary feats of endurance or athletic accomplishment for those who want to “knock themselves out.”

For example, one young man scaled Mount Washington 100 times in 100 days.  Another fellow traversed the White Mountains to all eight AMC huts, 45.25 miles and 16,175 vertical feet in 9h 58m 3s  (and actually kept time to the second).  Admittedly this feat only crossed Mt. Washington along the way.  The same fellow also completed the Presidential Traverse, which tags the summits of Mounts Madison, Adams, Jefferson, Washington, Monroe, Eisenhower, and Pierce, along the ridge of the Presidential Range, in 3h 31m 54s.

For saner folks, it is also fun just to cheer these athletes (and vehicles) on as spectators or volunteer to assist the events. 

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