Climb to the Clouds is one of those events that I had been waiting to see come back. It had been four years since the last running in 2021, and after photographing the event in 2017 and 2021, I was excited to get back up Mt. Washington with my cameras. It is one of the most challenging events I photograph because you only get limited opportunities with each car, and if you're shooting for a team, you have to plan carefully. Once you're up on the mountain and you've chosen a location, you're pretty much committed to staying there. Movement is limited, and you're working within designated areas because of the surrounding forest.
Then there is the weather. Mt. Washington is known for some of the world's most extreme and unpredictable weather. You can have sunshine one minute and clouds, rain, and cold temperatures the next. As a photographer, you have to be ready for whatever the mountain decides to give you.
Scott Speed appearing out of the fog after his qualifying run.
A Personal Connection
My connection to Climb to the Clouds actually started back in 2014. My friend Karen Barrows, an incredible automotive artist, had painted Nick Grabau BMW M3 and asked if I could photograph it on the mountain. That introduced me to Bill Washburn, Alex and Nick Grabau, and Matt Koestner, who I have become close with over the years. They also happen to be Boston Dynamics techs, which has given me the very cool opportunity to visit and play with some of the robots. It's one of those unexpected benefits of knowing the right people and building friendships through the automotive world.
2014 Livery
I've now been their photographer for the event in 2014, 2017, 2021 and 2026, and this year felt different because I knew more of the competitors. Chris Duplessis was there with P1 Motor Club, Ryan Tuerck with Mobil 1 and Ferenc Ocsai with Rayteam Automotive. Knowing that my photographs would be used by people I knew gave me more purpose than simply trying to photograph every car that came through.
The Mountain
The 2026 Climb to the Clouds covered 7.6 miles from the base to the 6,288-foot summit, climbing more than 4,600 feet with an average grade of approximately 11.8 percent. The entire course was now paved, adding another chapter to the long history of this event.
Standing beside the road gives you a completely different appreciation for those numbers. You hear a car somewhere below you, the sound gets louder, and suddenly it appears in front of you before disappearing around the next corner. You have one chance to get the shot.
Rather than spending all day trying to photograph every car, I concentrated on finding unique perspectives and showing the mountain, the weather and the speed. For the second half of the event, I spent more time at the base because I wanted to photograph something just as important as the cars: the people.
The People
The cars may be the stars, but the people are what make Climb to the Clouds special. There is serious competition, but everyone seems willing to talk, help and share the experience. The Blethen brothers brought their matching-livery Mazda RX-8s along with their entire family, even making T-shirts for the whole crew. I also made a day-friend with a guy who had a lifted Porsche Cayenne on off-road tires. He let me get close to the rope so I could capture panning shots of the cars against a rock wall near the first incline. Those little interactions are some of my favorite parts of an event like this because they are the moments you can't plan for but often end up remembering the most.
Another great story was happening with the all-women Frog Racing team. Margaret Sharron and Jen Holden competed in a 2007 Audi RS4 with an all-female crew and came away with Queen of the Mountain honors while setting a new fastest-woman record of 7:16.305. They also finished third in the R1 Rally class, making their weekend another memorable part of the event.
I also ran into fellow photographer John DerBedrosian of Flacht_pics, and we spent time talking and finding different locations on the mountain. It's always great being around photographers who understand what you're trying to accomplish and are willing to share the experience.
The Cars
There were plenty of memorable cars throughout the weekend. Jeff Zwart was there with the Mobil 1 Porsche, and I was fortunate enough to capture one of my favorite images of the event when he caught air over the finish line. Jake Wile's 1997 BMW M3 was another car that stood out as he screamed his way up the mountain, while Matt Gottlieb in his 2003 Subaru STI never seemed to let up.
And then there was Scott Speed in Subaru Motorsports USA's Project Midnight.
Speed set a new overall Mt. Washington record with a time of 5:11.892, beating Travis Pastrana's previous record of 5:28.67, set in 2021. That's nearly 17 seconds faster on a 7.6-mile mountain course.
It was incredible to see, and I would still love to see Travis come back someday.
Remembering Paul Giblin
The 2026 event was also held in memory of Paul Giblin.
I never had the opportunity to know Paul personally, but his influence on this event is easy to understand. He was involved with the Sports Car Club of New Hampshire for decades and served as the Event Director for Climb to the Clouds from 1995 through 2021.
People remember him as someone who built relationships, shared his knowledge and helped bring people together. The club has described the car community as his family, and after spending time at this event, that description feels fitting.
Families, teams, drivers, volunteers, photographers and spectators all come together on this mountain because they share a passion for cars and competition. That community is part of Paul's legacy.
More Than the Cars
Having media credentials is important at an event like this because without them you're generally stuck behind the yellow ropes, often with limited views and sometimes little more than the back of another spectator's head. I wanted to use that access to show more than just the cars. I wanted to photograph the crowd, the teams preparing their drivers, the anticipation before each run and the people watching the cars disappear up the mountain.
That's what Climb to the Clouds feels like to me.
It's not just a race. It's the mountain, the cars and, most importantly, the people.
Thank You
Finally, thank you to everyone who has purchased photographs from the event. It genuinely means a lot to me, and it means even more knowing that you now have a memory you can look back on and share with the people you love.
If you see a photograph you would like to keep, I encourage you to purchase the high-resolution version. The images displayed online are compressed, and that doesn't represent the photograph the way it was intended to be seen. The high-resolution files preserve the detail and quality of the original image.
That's ultimately why I photograph events like this. The cars are incredible, the competition is incredible and the mountain is incredible, but the memories are what stay with us.
Four years was a long time to wait.
I'm glad Climb to the Clouds is back, and I'm glad I was there to photograph it.