Matt Bancroft and Chantelle Honaker accomplished a rare winter climb to the summit of New Hampshire’s notorious Mount Washington on Christmas Eve. The intrepid adventurers from Santa Barbara made the attempt for personal fulfillment and to raise money for United Cerebral Palsy/WORK Inc. They both are employed by the nonprofit organization.
Bancroft reported that the pair encountered ideal weather conditions — before the East Coast was slammed by this week’s storms — but their unaccompanied 5,650-foot climb to the peak (it started at an elevation of 630 feet above sea level) was not without peril.
“We reached the tree line and hit heavy winds which poised severe danger of hypothermia, as we had worked up a moderate sweat climbing to the alpine garden,” Bancroft said. “As an alpine rule, if you sweat, you die — a fact that we were constantly balancing throughout our expedition.”