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Old 29th May 2015, 19:03   #16
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Re: Driving a behemoth up Mt.Washington (NH, USA) - Ford Expedition 8-seater

Quote:
Originally Posted by batterylow View Post
For science,
Mt.Washington 6288 ft
Nandi hills 4,851 ft

Now getting back to the post, lovely view from the top and yes, the drop looks scary especially with that behemoth hiding the road from the driver's view.

Ah yes, I knew someone would bring that up. But here is the thing. When you start the climb to mount washington, your elevation is less than a 1000 ft. I know because i had noted this before my trip:

This car (also) climbed Mount Washington & Mount Mansfield, VT

Also, there is a topographical term called Prominence, which according to Wikipedia:
Quote:
characterizes the height of a mountain or hill's summit by the vertical distance between it and the lowest contour line encircling with no higher summit. It is a measure of the independence of a summit.
In case of Mt Washington, that is 6148 ft. In effect, this means you climb at least 5300 ft to get to the top.

For Nandi Hills, there is no such information on wiki, but the Mysore Plateau has an average elevation of 2,600 ft and the elevation of Bangalore International Airport is 3002 ft. The climb to the top of Nandi Hills is not even half of Mount Washington, vertically.

But having said all that, the Nandi Hills drive is more fun because you can overtake slower vehicles and Mt Washington drive does indeed remind you of Nandi hills drive because of the apparent lack of safety features on the road. However, from topography and geography point of view, the two are nowhere near the same.
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Old 29th May 2015, 19:37   #17
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Re: Driving a behemoth up Mt.Washington (NH, USA) - Ford Expedition 8-seater

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Originally Posted by amitoj View Post
Ah yes, I knew someone would bring that up. But here is the thing. When you start the c......r the same.
Saar, that was just a joke.

I was weak in Geography even as a kid.

Nonetheless thank you for that info, that's something new I learnt today!

In simple terms, Nandi hills is not considered tall because the features around it is also tall.

Is my understanding correct?

Last edited by batterylow : 29th May 2015 at 19:40. Reason: Additional info
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Old 29th May 2015, 20:09   #18
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Re: Driving a behemoth up Mt.Washington (NH, USA) - Ford Expedition 8-seater

Quote:
Originally Posted by batterylow View Post
In simple terms, Nandi hills is not considered tall because the features around it is also tall.

Is my understanding correct?
Well, 4800 ft is high enough to consider it tall. But since you start off at a high point anyway, the climb to the top of Nandi Hills does not cause as drastic a change in climate as the climb to the top of Mt Washington. You cant spend a day at the top of Mount Washington in shorts and a T shirt even at the peak of summers. But that is also due to where it sits in the weather system. Something about converging point of more than one weather systems.
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Old 1st June 2015, 00:03   #19
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Re: Driving a behemoth up Mt.Washington (NH, USA) - Ford Expedition 8-seater

Thanks for bringing back memories. This year we visited New England area again, but skipped Mt Washington due to its weather as we have 2 kids in tow.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ml#post2415801
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Old 1st June 2015, 08:53   #20
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Re: Driving a behemoth up Mt.Washington (NH, USA) - Ford Expedition 8-seater

Hey that's a nice travelogue buddy followed by some nice pics of nature. And that's one beast you drove up there. I can totally feel the temperature you faced on the trip.

I was in Minneapolis for about 2.5 years and the lowest temperature i have seen or faced was -38 C (Yep that's right). I went to Duluth once during the fall and it was equally beautiful with so many tress with different color leaves and flowers.
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Old 8th June 2015, 05:44   #21
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Re: Driving a behemoth up Mt.Washington (NH, USA) - Ford Expedition 8-seater

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Originally Posted by napster1311 View Post
Lovely travelouge and pics. I visited Mt. Washington in 2010 Summers, strange to know that the road is not yet ready. But it was a memorable holiday.

I rememeber I travelled some 50 miles at night to find some indian food and yes I was successful.
Hello Napster1311,

The summit gets a delayed summer, if you know what I mean. That's why the road wasn't ready yet - but didn't check as of now.

About traveling 50 miles, huh! I traveled 50 miles at 9PM only to find that a restaurant named "Shalimar" on Google maps was an American restaurant. We ultimately found the right Shalimar on Conway road closer to Kancamagus highway.

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Originally Posted by Mpower View Post
Nice travelouge! Hope to make it there sometime soon.

Good choice as far the vehicle. Turbo engine is the way to go if you are going to be at high altitudes.

Other cars are going to be choking & wheezing up the hills due to the thinner air
I couldn't quite tell if the gradient posed a challenge at all. The behemoth just chugged everywhere nonchalantly. Can't say if other cars wheeze either. Logic suggests that 4V engines and non-turbo engines would struggle a wee bit with full capacity.

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Originally Posted by batterylow View Post
For science,
Mt.Washington 6288 ft
Nandi hills 4,851 ft
Thanks! I myself wondered where to place this mountain compared to our own mountains. Puts things in perspective.

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Originally Posted by FourWheelDrift View Post
Thanks for this thread locusjag.

I'd like to counterpoint your mileage observations on the Ford Expedition, with my own experience on a competition vehicle.

I have just traveled to the Outer Banks in North Carolina from Baltimore in Maryland, some 320 miles one way, in a rental Chevrolet Suburban with around 16,000 miles on the clock. We have another 100 miles or so of in-town running, for a total of 420 miles so far.

We are 6 people, with a packed luggage compartment behind the 3rd row.

I have traveled at the speed limit or 5 over at max. Auto Climate Control is set to 73 deg F, with ambient temps in the 80s. Admittedly, I have been accelerating away from stop lights very gradually.

I zero-ed out the trip meters when I gassed up (Regular 91 Octane Shell) just before leaving on this trip, and the on-board computer says 22.6 mpg over the 420 miles covered thus far.

The Suburban has cylinder de-activation and the V8 engine switches to 4 cylinder mode on downhill stretches as well as when coasting ... but not when idling.

Will report out on the mileage reported on the rest of the trip and the return leg.

Cheers,

FourWheelDrift
Please do detail the Chevy Suburban's performance and mpg in a post. Am curious about this nether world of huge and powerful SUVs. I mean, our very own Tata Safar tops out at a mere 145 BHP as I remember, meanwhile these beasts are in the range of 350 BHP +. My puny compact 5 seater SUV has 178Bhp! Your Suburban with a V8 sounds imposing alright.

Quote:
Originally Posted by arindamray View Post
Thanks for bringing back memories. This year we visited New England area again, but skipped Mt Washington due to its weather as we have 2 kids in tow.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ml#post2415801
There are plenty of scenic places to see in the New England area. Having covered most of them, I can very well surmise you had a nice time, never mind losing out on Mt.Washington.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Singh09 View Post
Hey that's a nice travelogue buddy followed by some nice pics of nature. And that's one beast you drove up there. I can totally feel the temperature you faced on the trip.

I was in Minneapolis for about 2.5 years and the lowest temperature i have seen or faced was -38 C (Yep that's right). I went to Duluth once during the fall and it was equally beautiful with so many tress with different color leaves and flowers.
Thank you sir. And ah - Minneapolis! The tough and frosty land said to be inhabited by the tough Vikings originally. -38C sounds about right for MN, given that we sometimes bottom out at -30C at CT. Might you have a few icy travelogues to share from MN? I'd love to read them.
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Old 8th June 2015, 08:23   #22
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Re: Driving a behemoth up Mt.Washington (NH, USA) - Ford Expedition 8-seater

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Originally Posted by locusjag View Post

Thank you sir. And ah - Minneapolis! The tough and frosty land said to be inhabited by the tough Vikings originally. -38C sounds about right for MN, given that we sometimes bottom out at -30C at CT. Might you have a few icy travelogues to share from MN? I'd love to read them.
A nice description about Minneapolis buddy. And yes it get's literally to cold sometimes. The lowest I have been was -38 C. Even CT gets chilly cold. I remember when there was a snow storm 2-3 years back in CT and there was a power outage as well. I had friends who had to go buy small generators from Walmart.

I do have a T-log on one of my trips to Duluth. It just got live like 2 days back. Here is the link:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...d-getaway.html
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Old 8th June 2015, 10:06   #23
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Re: Driving a behemoth up Mt.Washington (NH, USA) - Ford Expedition 8-seater

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Originally Posted by locusjag View Post

Please do detail the Chevy Suburban's performance and mpg in a post. Am curious about this nether world of huge and powerful SUVs. I mean, our very own Tata Safar tops out at a mere 145 BHP as I remember, meanwhile these beasts are in the range of 350 BHP +. My puny compact 5 seater SUV has 178Bhp! Your Suburban with a V8 sounds imposing alright.

When I turned the Suburban in to the rental car company at the end of the trip, it had covered some 950 miles total for the round trip. Mileage on the trip computer said 22.6 mpg.

Performance was more than adequate, although there wasn't any hilly terrain or tight corners / curvy roads to challenge the vehicle.

Likes
1) Gas mileage for a vehicle of this size.

We were earlier considering doing the trip in 2 smaller cars, given our passenger and luggage load. In hindsight, renting the Suburban was a great decision. To do the trip with 2 cars consuming the same amount of fuel as the Suburban, would have meant both cars getting 45.2 mpg ! Very few vehicles could have achieved that ... and certainly not the 2 smaller vehicles we were considering using. It amazes me that a 5.3 litre gasoline V8 with 355 bhp mated to a 6 speed AT with 4x4, and pushing around a ~3 ton vehicle + load can give such good gas mileage.
2) Comfortable seating for 6 (and more), with ample luggage room behind the 3rd row.
In addition to the space offered by the seats, all three rows could be independently controlled for HVAC temperature. Also, FM radio performance was enhanced by the BOSE music system the vehicle came equipped with. Apart from the occasional boredom related "are we there yet" from the kids in the 3rd row, there weren't any comfort related complaints from them ... which is saying something on the two 6 hour road trips they endured.
3) Reverse camera, with guiding lines that curved when the steering wheel was turned, showing the path the vehicle would take when reversed.
I wasn't intimidated in the least bit when driving the Suburban, even in the tightest of parking spots, given the electronic parking aides.

Dislikes
1) Ride

Air pressure in the tires was 39psi when cold, according to the TPMS. Don't know if that is the correct pressure. However, the ride over expansion joints on bridges as well as on concrete roads, could be felt as a relatively sharp thud through the suspension, in comparison to the otherwise cushy suspension behaviour. This Suburban was a LT variant and was not equipped with the air suspension of the LTZ.
2) Absence of "creep" in the transmission
I'm not sure if this is a dislike, as much as it is an observation. Normal ATs would move forward in D (or R), without any accelerator pedal input. This Suburban would not - not when unloaded nor loaded, neither forward nor reverse on a flat road or an incline. Given the kind of hullabaloo by fellow t-bhpians on the GenX Nano AMT thread on the presence / absence of "creep" in that vehicle, I think this is a non-issue.

Cheers,

FourWheelDrift
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Old 8th June 2015, 11:13   #24
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Re: Driving a behemoth up Mt.Washington (NH, USA) - Ford Expedition 8-seater

Great travelogue and absolutely stunning views. I also did a similar trip to Mt Washington in the last fall, sometime around Thanks Giving weekend. For people in the East Coast, Mt Washington is like the ultimate place to drive up to. As it is common in US and many other western countries, they tend to "make a mountain out of a mole hill" . In this case our own Ooty and Kodai are situated higher than Mt Washington and if they drive up to Ooty through Masinagudi, it might make their pants wet But then, everybody has a right to be proud of what they have. And of course Ooty is a comfortable hill station and dont have the kind of treacherous weather what we see on top of Mt Washington which is situated up north and in a very peculiar geographic location.

We had a recent trip to California and when we mentioned to the people there that we are driving to Yosemite through Tioga Pass, many of them were quite wide eyed about the so called "adventure". Tioga is almost 10,000 ft above sea level even though the road (CA120) is quite well laid with mostly straight and slow climbs and never feel anywhere near as adventurous as Mt Washington. The road was recently open for traffic and is usually closed from October to end of May or even June due to snow. They also charge a hefty $30 entrance fee at Tioga.
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Old 8th June 2015, 12:19   #25
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Re: Driving a behemoth up Mt.Washington (NH, USA) - Ford Expedition 8-seater

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Originally Posted by locusjag View Post
Hello Napster1311,

The summit gets a delayed summer, if you know what I mean. That's why the road wasn't ready yet - but didn't check as of now.

About traveling 50 miles, huh! I traveled 50 miles at 9PM only to find that a restaurant named "Shalimar" on Google maps was an American restaurant. We ultimately found the right Shalimar on Conway road closer to Kancamagus highway.
Hey locusjag, you reminded me of a lovely vacation with old friends. I believe we also visited the same "Shalimar" a restaurant run by an Indian family and its not a very fancy one. Though food was good.
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