Steam and speed mark Mount Washington’s Climb to the Clouds
Spectators gather in dense fog Aug. 9 near the summit of Mount Washington as race vehicles from the 2026 Climb to the Clouds are barely visible through the clouds. Poor visibility forced organizers to shorten the morning runs before conditions cleared for the afternoon, when Scott Speed set a new course record of 5 minutes, 11.89 seconds. (Rebecca Richard/Staff writer)
View 15 photos
Our day at the Climb to the Clouds began hours before the first race car made its run up the auto road on Mount Washington.
We were up and on the road by 5:30 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 9, headed for an 8:30 a.m. departure aboard one of the Mount Washington Cog Railway’s coal-fired steam trains.
Steam is not what powers most Cog trips these days. The railway primarily uses its biodiesel locomotives, while the historic steam engines operate on a more limited schedule. The steam trip is slower, and on our run it also meant a little more time to experience the summit.
It also meant a much different ride.
The steam locomotive was noisier and noticeably bumpier, with the whistle, smoke and coal cinders providing reminders of an earlier era of Mount Washington travel. The whistle alone made the trip feel different from a normal Cog ride.
At one point, we passed hikers climbing alongside the tracks on the Cog Access Trail, which is one of my favorite ways to climb the mountain. As hikers often do when a train passes, they stopped and waved.
Advertisement
Passengers waved back.
The hikers got something extra in return: a shower of small coal cinders from the locomotive.
By the time we reached the 6,288-foot summit, however, Mount Washington had nearly disappeared.
Related
Fog lifts, record falls at Mount Washington Hillclimb
Dense fog reduced visibility to almost nothing. The weather was bad enough that race organizers did not allow the first competition runs of the Climb to the Clouds to continue to the summit. Drivers raced only the lower portion of the course before later driving their cars to the summit to turn around.
That at least gave those of us already at the top a chance to see some of the race cars.
“See” was a relative term.
Advertisement
Cars parked only a short distance away could nearly disappear into the clouds. What would normally have been sweeping views across the White Mountains had become a wall of gray.
I had hoped to get a closer look at the finish area and photograph more of the race activity from the summit, but the official finish-area spectator section was restricted to paid spectators and reporters on the approved media list, said Don Bilger, events manager for the Mt. Washington Auto Road and Great Glen Trails.
I had waited too long to arrange a media pass this year. By the time I looked into it, the credential window had already passed, sometime in June.
Next time the Climb to the Clouds returns, getting that request in early will be part of the plan.
With virtually no visibility at the summit, we turned to some of the other Mount Washington traditions.
We took summit photos, mailed postcards from the summit post office and stopped for a picture at the Tip-Top House.
Advertisement
Built in 1853, the stone Tip-Top House is the oldest surviving building on the summit. Originally constructed as a hotel, it is one of the remaining links to the early days of tourism on Mount Washington and is preserved today as a historic site.
Then it was back aboard the steam train for the trip down.
From the bottom of the cog railway, we drove around Mount Washington to the base of the auto road in Pinkham Notch, south of Gorham, to catch the second half of the race and the rest of the festivities.
It might as well have been a different day.
The summit had been buried in fog. In Pinkham Notch, it was sunny and warm.
It was also packed.
Advertisement
Cars lined the road and filled parking areas, with shuttle vans moving spectators to and from the event. Race cars and automotive displays filled the grounds, while music, food and beer tents gave the afternoon the atmosphere of a festival as much as a motorsports event.
The excitement was easy to see.
Spectators cheered as the cars came through, and one little boy became especially excited when he spotted his favorite car among the competitors: a Porsche.
Putting on an event of that size on Mount Washington requires considerably more than closing the auto road for a weekend.
“It takes a village,” Bilger said in an email before the race.
The auto road hosts the hill climb in conjunction with the Sports Car Club of New Hampshire, which handles much of the race logistics.
Advertisement
“A great deal goes into it and we have been planning this event for a year,” Bilger said.
Spectators gather at the base of the Mt. Washington Auto Road on Aug. 9 during the 2026 Paul Giblin Memorial Climb to the Clouds, with the surrounding mountains visible under much clearer skies than at the fog-shrouded summit earlier in the day. Crowds lined the course and event area for the afternoon runs, when Scott Speed set a new hill climb record of 5 minutes, 11.89 seconds. (Rebecca Richard/Staff Writer)
Permits from New Hampshire State Parks and the White Mountain National Forest allow the race to take place, and Bilger said the Mount Washington Observatory loaned organizers one of its vans for the event.
This year’s race also carried the name of a man who had helped keep the event alive for decades.
The 2026 event was officially designated the Paul Giblin Memorial Climb to the Clouds Race in honor of the longtime organizer, who died in 2022.
Bilger said the Mt. Washington Auto Road and Sports Car Club of New Hampshire wanted to recognize Giblin’s significant contributions to the hill climb, describing him as the “heart and soul” of the event for many years.
The Climb to the Clouds does not take place annually, and this year marked its first running since 2021.
Advertisement
Bilger said the gap was due to the effects of COVID and the loss of Giblin in 2022. Organizers hope to hold the race every two or three years going forward.
A portion of proceeds from this year’s event was designated for Gold Star families, those who have lost an immediate family member as a result of active-duty military service.
Bilger said the cause was chosen because the Mt. Washington Auto Road and the Sports Car Club of New Hampshire share a commitment to veterans and their families.
While at the base, we also visited the Douglas A. Philbrook Red Barn Museum near the Auto Road Base Lodge and Great Glen Trails Outdoor Center.
The museum preserves vehicles, photographs and memorabilia from the long history of the auto road, but one item on the wall was particularly relevant to what was happening outside Sunday.
Mounted there was the signed hood from the Subaru that Travis Pastrana drove when he set a Mount Washington course record in 2021.
Advertisement
The display also noted an important detail: Pastrana set that mark before the road was paved bottom to top.
That made Sunday’s race the first Climb to the Clouds run entirely on pavement.
The Mount Washington Hillclimb dates to 1904, making it older than both the Indianapolis 500 and the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. The race began during an era when automobile manufacturers were still demonstrating that their machines could conquer roads once traveled primarily by horses and carriages.
Bilger said about 1 mile of gravel remained during the 2021 event. That section has since been paved. The change meant drivers no longer had to set up their cars and tires for a course that switched between pavement and gravel.
“We fully anticipate a course record since this is the first time the road is fully paved,” Bilger said before the race. He said tire setups would be adjusted because drivers would no longer be drifting on the gravel section.
Advertisement
Pastrana’s 2021 record stood at 5 minutes, 28.67 seconds in a Subaru WRX STI.
Spectators watch and photograph a competitor speeding Aug. 9 past the base of the Mt. Washington Auto Road during the afternoon runs of the Paul Giblin Memorial Climb to the Clouds. The clouds had cleared enough for racers to make full-course runs to the summit, where Scott Speed set a new hill climb record of 5 minutes, 11.89 seconds. (Rebecca Richard/Staff writer)
Scott Speed got the first opportunity to attack the entire course on asphalt on Aug. 9. The weather nearly prevented it.
After dense fog forced the morning runs to be shortened, conditions changed in time for the second session.
The Mt. Washington Auto Road announced that the clouds cleared just in time for the afternoon runs, giving competitors a clear shot to the summit.
Driving Subaru Motorsports USA’s Project Midnight WRX, Speed completed the 7.6-mile climb in 5 minutes, 11.89 seconds, breaking Pastrana’s record by nearly 17 seconds.
Earlier live timing from the Sports Car Club of New Hampshire listed Speed’s run at 5:11.892 and labeled the results unofficial. The Mt. Washington Auto Road later announced the run as the new Mt. Washington Hillclimb record.
Advertisement
Bilger’s prediction had proved correct.
Western Maine also had someone to watch on the mountain.
Dwayne Bennett, of Bethel, competed in a 1999 Mazda Miata in the P3 class, posting a full-course afternoon time of 7 minutes, 59.571 seconds in the live timing results.
For us, it capped a day that showed nearly every personality Mount Washington has.
We began the morning climbing through clouds behind a coal-fired steam locomotive, listening to its whistle and watching hikers wave before being dusted with coal cinders.
Advertisement
At the summit, visibility was so poor that cars only a short distance away nearly vanished in the fog, forcing racers to make their first timed runs on only the lower section of the mountain.
A few hours later, we were standing in warm sunshine at the base of the auto road base among cheering spectators, race cars, food tents and music.
By the end of the afternoon, Speed had set a new Climb to the Clouds record on the first fully paved running of the course.
Next time, I intend to be back, with the press-pass request submitted early enough to watch it from a little closer.
Copy the Story Link
Tagged: auto racing, climb to the clouds, Franklin Journal, mount washington, mt washington
Rebecca Richard is a reporter for the Franklin Journal. She graduated from the University of Maine after studying literature and writing. She is a small business owner, wife of 33 years and mom of eight. More by Rebecca Richard
