I remember this incident. I don't think it was in 1976, the mansion was burned during the summer of '75 and this happened befor that. otherwise, it was very much as described. I also remember Mr. W weeping much more than the story. It was awful. I felt SOoo bad for him.
Mr W took a bunch of us, maybe 5 or 6, I dont remember, up Mt. Washington one winter. It was organized by DeJong I think, Mr W agreed to be chaperone because he loved that sort of thing. Totally different scene than the dory trips in the smmer, where you had to row till your arms screamed because otherwise you werent pushing yourself hard enough. This was purely for the love of the outdoors.
We hiked in 4 miles to base camp during the night. Snow everywhere, all was silent. Pace was slowed to accomadate the slower ones. Spent the night in the base camp shelter (floor, 3 walls, roof, thats it). Next day up the back face. Lunch was eaten sitting on top of the tree line (2 ft tall), salami and cheese sandwiches. Up that last hump, cant remember the name of it, but its steeper at the bottom, so when you're near the top, you look back and you can see maybe 10 ft of ice and rock and then nothing... for a good long bit, and then the meadow in the far off distance below. We used crampons and ice picks, don't remember about the ropes.
At the summit, we crawled in through the window of the hut which is always supposed to be open for travelers (door was locked). Hot Tang never tasted so good! And then back down to base camp, and the next day back out to the road. I'll never forget him for that special memory. One of the best times I ever had. Maybe it was best because it had nothing to do with Hyde, just a bunch of guys enjoying the winter outdoors.