How much wind is too much wind?

[Eli Boardman]

I've done a few 14ers in winds sustained at 45 gusting to 75+ mph based on weather reports and observations. These numbers come from weather models which tend to underestimate winds on high ridges, so it might have been even higher. These were all solo in December, January, and February. None of them were fun. One time I literally got blown up off the ground and slammed over backwards (on flat terrain above treeline--Humboldt's east ridge). It feels pretty serious to spend several hours above treeline, solo, in near-hurricane winds, in winter. So my limit for "fun" is around 30-40 mph, but I can deal with up to 75+ mph. I definitely try to avoid the upper end of that spectrum after seeing how threatening it feels in real life.

[Scott P]

I'm a big guy and 130 mph winds were enough to pick me up and blow me off the mountain. I actually got injured, but luckily not seriously. Chill factors were in the -50's (new windchill chart) to -80 (old windchill chart) on that day.

Here is a trip report:

https://www.summitpost.org/dangerous-wi ... ain/170697

Anything above 70 mph is enough to make even walking extremely difficult.

Anything above 30 mph is unpleasant especially if there is blowing sand or blowing snow.

50 mph can be very unpleasant, but still possible if you aren't really light.

I haven't turned back on that many climbs due to wind, but have on some, including the highest mountain I ever attempted. One we tried to climb a peak at the tail end of a hurricane, but it wasn't a good idea and we didn't make it that far.

[nyker]

Depends on the summit and terrain and where you encounter the most wind and the risk that wind puts you in. Also depends if precipitation is involved which could make it seem worse and increase various dangers.

Hard to put a number/mph figure/ on it that triggers a turn around since you have to factor in gusts vs sustained, etc.

In the Adirondacks, it regularly gets pretty windy in shoulder seasons with sustained winds over 40mph, but a lot of those summits are treed over, so you don't really feel up high aside from openings or climbing up slides in those cases. Open summits is another story.

On a route that's has less shelter and more exposed to the weather, I'd consider turning around if winds were making it dangerous, i.e. on a ridge where there was meaningful exposure, a knife edge, catwalk situation. What that speed is, is hard to quantify, but probably is directly related to the fall danger. I probably wouldn't do Capitol in 35mph winds, but on a Class 1 peak, I'd probably keep going unless there was sideways rain mixed in, then its just miserable and starts to get dangerous even on easier terrain as slips come easier. Poles help in those situations.

We summited Mount Washington in 80+mph winds but the wind was ~50mph on the slope leading to the summit, once on top, it was hard to walk, but that summit is wide open with no fall risk. Mt Washington is known for higher wind speeds so we were anticipating that as most others who hike there.
There is an anemometer on the summit for tourists so you know what the wind is there. Most of the lower route, the wind was barely felt in the forest.

The scariest wind I've felt on a mountain was on Mount Fuji across the summit crater. The wind forecast that morning called for 30mph winds higher up, nothing dramatic. That ended up being way too conservative above 10k. Going up it wasn't that bad and it seemed 30-40mph. On the descent though crossing the crater from the summit, it got scary windy that the couple of us still up there were not able to walk upright in so had to crab crawl on our stomachs otherwise our pack would act like a sail and the wind would lift us away, as it turned out, one gust lifted me up against a rock pile. I don't know what the winds were exactly but those gusts were higher than what we had on Mount Washington. Had it been that windy going up I would have turned around well below that.

[dpage]

This accident was just above treeline with 60 to 80 mph winds with gusts to 100 mph.

http://www.coloradoan.com/story/sports/ ... /98793038/

[Scott P]

For anyone interested, the strongest wind ever measured in Colorado was 201 mph on Longs Peak in 1981. This may be the 4th strongest wind ever recorded on earth, but of course a lot of high mountains don't have weather stations.

[highpilgrim]

How much?

The amount that changes your average pleasantly masochistic day into one primarily of misery.

The threshold between the two is variable based upon your mindset and what you did the night before.

[rpdawes]

We tend to feel the wind speed greater than the actual. I doubt that most hikers would use an handheld anemometer to measure the actual speed. At most times, even the weather forecasters err in forecasting the wind speed and direction.

How can you know the actual wind speed without measuring it first? That's not possible. Yet some people in this thread talk nonsense.

[Scott P]

How can you know the actual wind speed without measuring it first? That's not possible. Yet some people in this thread talk nonsense.

I'm not sure what post(s) you are referring to, but if you are interested, the 130 mph wind quoted in my post came from a reading from Breckenridge on Peak 8. The ski resort actually shut down due to 130 mph winds (measured by the ski resort). I was near the summit of North Star when it happened and North Star is higher than Peak 8 so it is a reasonable assumption that the winds were at least as strong.

There was a 14ers.com post the day it happened (12/9/2005), including the Breckenridge reading, but the search doesn't bring it up anymore.

[XterraRob]

Bross, Cameron, and Sherman can get pretty bad.

[rijaca]

Wind speed, much like slope grade and penis size, is often overestimated.

[painless4u2]

This would probably qualify for too much wind...

[Conor]

We all get altitoots. No need to complain about it.