Mt. Washington Climb to the Clouds 2014
June 26-29, 2014
A New Event for the HAMCOW

The HAMCOW was hauled to the base of Mt. Washington, NH, and set up
base camp for Team HAMCOW.  N1JOY & KE1LI made the trek, and we
were met up with KB1JDX & KB1LYF for Friday's race. 
KB1MNP and his girlfriend, Alyssa, also worked the entire weekend. 
Team HAMCOW picked up several new members this weekend.



The night sky in our camping area was amazing!


Friday morning reveals the amazing views.  The HAMCOW was
set up with the UHF repeater as our private communications.



Many of the other campers were Ham operators, and several
set up their own stations.  This weekend coincided with
Amateur Radio Field Day.
 


N1JOY parks his truck in the woods at the Station #1 checkpoint.  He was positioned
here for the Friday practice runs on the bottom half of the mountain, and on
Sunday for the full mountain races.
 


N1JOY's GoPro was run with the WiFi remote and captured some
pretty nice video.  With remote control, the camera was able to be
at the edge of the pavement while the operator was a safe distance away.
 


Here is the view N1JOY & KE1LI were treated to on Saturday at Checkpoint #18.
Saturday was a practice race on the top half of the mountain.


More of the view from Checkpoint #18.  It was as nice of a day as
you could ask for.  We were right at the 4,000 level on the mountain.


KE1LI on a rock perch watching for racers heading his way.


An Electric Race Vehicle makes an extremely quiet, but fast, pass.


The 2014 course champion and record holder.


A cool ride powered by a motorcycle engine.
 


Super Chicken.  It's a beast of my own heart, and a serious competitor too!


Fun with some motion blur on a vintage car.

 


For Sunday's full mountain races, KE1LI had a great spot
on the dirt portion of the course.  Unfortunately this car crashed on his
second run just before Checkpoint #1, and was witnessed by N1JOY


Just a few moments away from the starting line, the driver got
a little too close to the granite ledge and it spun him out.


When he stopped, he was very close to dropping into a 25 ft. deep ravine.
At the top of the mountain, the drop offs are much more concerning!
2 Meters was used to report back to Net Control at the starting line
that the drive was OK, and what services we needed to get the
course cleaned up. 


On Sunday the helicopter arrived to shoot some amazing video
of the racers.


The Official Climb to the Clouds 2014 video.
Can you spot the Team HAMCOW members in the video?
N1JOY, KE1LI, & KB1MNP are all visible, if only briefly.

 



KE1LI had a great spot to catch the action for Sunday's
full mountain runs.

 


You even see some good old American steel racing up the hill.

 


At the end of every run up the mountain, all of the drivers came down
in a parade for the spectators and volunteers.



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