Teufelhund
New member
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2008
- Messages
- 48
- Reaction score
- 2
Date of Hike: 3-27-10
Trail Conditions: Hard packed snow on Airline from Appalachia up 1.5 miles. After that we started to hit fresh snow that got progressively deeper….6 inches to drifts of up to 1.5 feet. Out on the open Durand Ridge, Airline was mostly solid ice with spotty areas of crusty snow. Almost all open areas below the summit cones of Adams & Madison are extremely icy. Valley Way had nice powdery conditions for most of its length making for a super fast descent.
Special Equipment Required: Full winter gear necessary. Crampons or other pointy devices more aggressive than microspikes are an absolute must for any attempt to summit these peaks at this time.
Comments: Airline Trail “disappeared” at its junction with Scar Trail. We started back down but soon met up with a large group of friendly Canadians equipped with a GPS. We formed an international hiking team and bushwhacked to the open ridge. The Canadians all had on super aggressive crampons while we were in micros, so we parted company at the base of Adams summit cone with the Quebecois continuing up and the two of us crossing over to Madison Spring Hut for lunch. At the hut, we were told that earlier in the day one hiker in snowshoes slipped on ice and tumbled 200 feet down the slope of Madison and didn’t stop until he bumped into the hut; incredibly, he was unhurt. And just before we left the hut, we heard screams (from the guy’s girlfriend), looked up, and watched one hiker in stabilizers plummet a couple hundred feet down Madison before stopping in shrubs near Pine Link. He had a gash above his left eye but was damn lucky not to have been more seriously injured. After all that, we felt justified in our decision not to summit on this day. We’ll be back next week with crampons.
Special hello to:
Bob P. whom we met on Airline,
Chris from RI,
The friendly Canadian lady from Sherbrooke.
Your name: Steve M & Steve R
Your E-mail address: [email protected]
Trail Conditions: Hard packed snow on Airline from Appalachia up 1.5 miles. After that we started to hit fresh snow that got progressively deeper….6 inches to drifts of up to 1.5 feet. Out on the open Durand Ridge, Airline was mostly solid ice with spotty areas of crusty snow. Almost all open areas below the summit cones of Adams & Madison are extremely icy. Valley Way had nice powdery conditions for most of its length making for a super fast descent.
Special Equipment Required: Full winter gear necessary. Crampons or other pointy devices more aggressive than microspikes are an absolute must for any attempt to summit these peaks at this time.
Comments: Airline Trail “disappeared” at its junction with Scar Trail. We started back down but soon met up with a large group of friendly Canadians equipped with a GPS. We formed an international hiking team and bushwhacked to the open ridge. The Canadians all had on super aggressive crampons while we were in micros, so we parted company at the base of Adams summit cone with the Quebecois continuing up and the two of us crossing over to Madison Spring Hut for lunch. At the hut, we were told that earlier in the day one hiker in snowshoes slipped on ice and tumbled 200 feet down the slope of Madison and didn’t stop until he bumped into the hut; incredibly, he was unhurt. And just before we left the hut, we heard screams (from the guy’s girlfriend), looked up, and watched one hiker in stabilizers plummet a couple hundred feet down Madison before stopping in shrubs near Pine Link. He had a gash above his left eye but was damn lucky not to have been more seriously injured. After all that, we felt justified in our decision not to summit on this day. We’ll be back next week with crampons.
Special hello to:
Bob P. whom we met on Airline,
Chris from RI,
The friendly Canadian lady from Sherbrooke.
Your name: Steve M & Steve R
Your E-mail address: [email protected]
