Franconia Ridge or The Hike That Was Almost My Last -- 1/31/09

I know what I'm doing in the mountains. Unfortunately, knowledge (and a dash of pride) can be a dangerous thing. I've been known to roll the dice and take some chances from time to time, but this time I almost rolled snake eyes.

Saturday morning I found that I had overslept. I figured I'd change my plans around and just hike on Sunday. Then, as I was getting comfortable with that thought, my inner gridiot (one who is working on "The Grid") woke up and reminded me that the whole reason that I was doing Lincoln & Lafayette was because they would be #s 41 & 42 on my January list and that the next day would be February! My stuff was mostly together so it didn't take me long to get dressed and out the door. My recent success w/10am starts had me feeling a bit cocky, despite the fact that I was starting later and doing a tougher hike.

When I got to Falling Waters and was gearing up, I found that my poles were missing. Knowing that I hadn't brought them up to my apartment, I knew I must have forgotten them at the Carter-Moriah trailhead on Tuesday. Great. No matter, I've hiked without them before and my knees are pretty good. It's just going to be more of a workout...

So, at 11am I headed up solo, without poles, and with a cold I can't seem to shake. I was moving well and I felt better about the situation as I started passing groups on their way up. Most of them weren't wearing snowshoes and didn't seem to have crampons either. I wondered after their safety. I made Shining Rock by 1pm and thought myself to be doing well. I was feeling good and and making decent time. Just before topping out onto Little Haystack I geared up, putting on my softshell, goggles, and insulated gloves.

The wind was brutal. Very soon, I found a gap between my balaclava and my goggles that I couldn't get covered. I would hold my glove against it for a time to block the wind, but then my hand would start to get cold. I have a nice bit of windburn from that now. I made the summits of Lincoln and Lafayette with little trouble, enjoying the breaks out of the wind and bearing it when it was unavoidable. Visibility was very poor. I had caught a glimpse of the hut from the ridge, but the clouds swallowed it up again. Still, I took some pictures.

On the summit of Lafayette, looking at the sign telling me that it was 1.1mi to the hut, I felt that I was home-free. The worst was over. The climbing was behind me and I would soon be getting out of the wind. I'd done this hike many times before, even in winter conditions, and never had a problem.

As I headed down, the clouds got thicker and the wind was blowing around the fallen snow. I carefully made my way from cairn to cairn wishing I had my poles for balance. Soon though, I lost the trail. I could see no further cairns or trace of any tracks. It seemed to me that I had to get down and get out of the wind, which I had been hiking directly into. I saw what looked like it might have been the trail and followed it down into the scrubby trees. I had been hoping that with going down, I might get below the clouds and see the trail or the hut... or something. Worse come to worse, I'd descend down to Rte 3 and walk the road back to my car. Once I got down a little ways into the trees however, I had a new problem: spruce traps.

As if I didn't have reason to hate spruce as a bushwhacker in summer, they gave me additional reason on this day. I was mired in minefield of spruce traps, continually falling into chest-shoulder deep snow (I'm 5'9"). Fighting my way out of these was exhausting. I was already drained from the hike, the wind, and my cold. Then I caught a break... in the clouds. I suddenly saw the hut... way off to my left.

I took out my compass and set a bearing. I tried to make a direct line for it, but the spruce traps were killing me. I was so exhausted from fighting my way out of them that I wasn't sure how much more I could take. Then I saw the ridge that I was pretty sure the trail passed over and I climbed back up, out of the trees and into the wind so I'd be away from the evil spruce. It was hard to get back to that point, but I made it, now only sliding at times and other times sinking knee deep.

Finally, I gained the ridge and saw cairns. I got back on the trail as two fathers and their screaming kids were coming by. We chatted for a minute, then I continued down ahead of them and I stopped to talk to two younger guys who were heading up to Lafayette. I warned them about the route and cautioned them about losing it and the weather. It was 4pm. It took me over two hours to get from the summit of Lafayette to just above the hut.

I stopped only briefly to take a few pictures on the way down. For the most part, I felt like a zombie plodding my way down. I got to the car at 6pm and headed for food and solace at The Common Man in Ashland.

I knew that I had taken some serious chances and that if I hadn't caught that break in the clouds, I might have been a goner. I couldn't have fought through the spruce traps all the way down. I just didn't have it in me. This trip was a bit of a wake-up call. Maybe I won't be quite so cavalier in the future... maybe.

Here are pictures: ttp://community.webshots.com/album/569914592kQhpUE?vhost=community

Double Bow said:

I got back on the trail as two fathers and their screaming kids were coming by. We chatted for a minute, then I continued down ahead of them and I stopped to talk to two younger guys who were heading up to Lafayette. I warned them about the route and cautioned them about losing it and the weather. It was 4pm.

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We warned both groups as well (the group with the kids at the hut, and then the two other hikes when we ran into them about halfway down the OBP)...it was a rough day to be on the ridge! Glad you made it out in one piece!

Thanks for sharing that experience. There's a lot of food for thought there. I have often thought that in questionable weather the counter clockwise direction is the better way to go. I have heard of more than one person having trouble finding the trail into the woods when coming down off Lincoln. This is the first time I have heard of someone having the same problem coming off Lafayette. But as any bushwhacker knows, it's very easy to drop down off a ridge.

I sure am glad it you made it. You obviously were using all your good sense and abilities to get out of a difficult and dangerous situation.

Except for the spruce traps, I had the same hike on Washington.

Thanks for posting this sobering report. We all need to be reminded now and again that a strong desire to reach a goal does have the power to overcome good sense.

You were wise to keep a smart head even when you got in trouble. That's what separates the survivors from the, well, non-survivors.

Bet that food (and a couple ales?) tasted pretty good down at the Common Man!

The Feathered Hat said:

Bet that food (and a couple ales?) tasted pretty good down at the Common Man!

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Quite right! I polished off a couple C-man ales and had one of their newer items, Bessie & Porky. It's a burger with BBQ pulled pork on top. It just confirms my theory that the only way to make meat better is to put more meat on top of it!

Good call DB, glad you got out alive. I hate Spruce Traps, even though I tend to be immune to a lot of them. The compass bearing is always a good thing when you get visibility, you never know when the clouds will turn everything into a whiteout.

Jay

Double Bow said:

I suddenly saw the hut... way off to my left.

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This is what interested me most in your story. Almost all those who descend Lafayette in a whiteout end up on the other side of the hut, down in the bottomless snows of Walker Ravine.

Jay H said:

Good call DB, glad you got out alive. I hate Spruce Traps, even though I tend to be immune to a lot of them. The compass bearing is always a good thing when you get visibility, you never know when the clouds will turn everything into a whiteout.

Jay

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spruce traps suck! especially when you have a 5 foot + snowboard attached to both legs an you have to swim out of the deep stuff!!

Mohamed Ellozy said:

This is what interested me most in your story. Almost all those who descend Lafayette in a whiteout end up on the other side of the hut, down in the bottomless snows of Walker Ravine.

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Hm, could you say that again? Good statistical data!

Congratulations, Double Bow, what didn't kill you made you stronger. Way to dodge the bullet.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting such a descriptive and honest TR.

It is extremely valuable to read reports like these. I for one really appreciate it when someone is brutally honest about the hardships and dangers they experienced on a hike. We all benefit from this kind of information.

Very glad you made it down safely.

Great TR DB! That was a crazy weather day. We were on Chocorua near sunset when the temp dropped dramatically and the conditions looked awful further north.

I don't think you would have been a goner, though, really. I know that you have experience and training. Plus, you had enough gear to thrive in the night and hike out in the morning or when the conditions improved... right?

Glad you made it out OK!

glad it worked out russ... Last year on mats first day of his winter attempt I went up the tri's to help bust trail and I was in the beginning stages of what would be a about a 3 week long sickness.

I was going at about 50% of normal - I felt like worse than dr wu's poop with gg allin on top. I turned back, but had an easy hike out - I can't imagine being off trail, wasted, in crap conditions. I was wasted...on easy sstuff not lost and it sucked moose.

stuff happens to even the most skilled people. take pride that your skillls and no panic likely got you out and ya didn't have to do the dreaded night in the wood and have mtnpa and his neighbor come get ya.

origionally posted by TrishandAlex:

It is extremely valuable to read reports like these. I for one really appreciate it when someone is brutally honest about the hardships and dangers they experienced on a hike. We all benefit from this kind of information.

Very glad you made it down safely.

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Way to keep your head about you in what must have been harrowing times..It gets easy to make a wrong decision and not realize that you have...

It's stories like this that have kept me lower on solo winter hikes and hiking with a group to the more exposed places....with the right folks there is certainly safety in numbers...and someone to pull you out of a spruce trap and share an ale with back at the CMan...

Ed'n Lauky said:

I have often thought that in questionable weather the counter clockwise direction is the better way to go. I have heard of more than one person having trouble finding the trail into the woods when coming down off Lincoln. This is the first time I have heard of someone having the same problem coming off Lafayette. But as any bushwhacker knows, it's very easy to drop down off a ridge.

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Probably more problems trying to find route down from Lafayette than from Little Haystack (Lincoln?) in winter; for example see Brian Gagnon thread from about this time two years ago. Also, search for the Easter Sunday Lafayette fatality thread from 2005. But, unlike Double Bow's epic, usually folks miss the Bridle Path right at the summit, which is magnetic 300 degrees, I believe (I do not have my notes with me at the moment, so someone please correct the number if it is wrong; whatever the number, it is always taped to the back of my compass whenever I am on the Ridge in the winter). My guess is that Double Bow could have endured the spruce traps for even longer, but better that he escaped them when he did. In any case, below treeline always increases your chances for survival over above treeline, spruce traps or no spruce traps. Thanks for sharing, Double Bow.

http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=15586&highlight=Lafayette+rescue+2007

Wow.

Two hours to get from Lafayette to the Hut, that's an ordeal! I'm super glad you are OK.

I also picked up on where you landed relative to the hut. I read in "Not without Peril" that often times in the wind hikers tend to get pushed off course by the wind without realizing its happening. How did you feel when you saw the hut? It must have been disorienting to see it not where its supposed to be! (relative to the trail)

Thanks for sharing, LOTS of good honest experience there!

I'll echo what everyone else is saying - great, honest sobering report! It's reading stories like this one that will save a life in the future - someone, somewhere will remember this when they find themselves in a similar spot.

Reading Big Earl's recent report, for example, will keep me off of Washington!

This was a situation where a GPS could have been very useful, perhaps even life-saving if you don't get a lucky break in the clouds.

Glad you made it out ok.

Doug

Terrific T/R. Thanks for posting. From before you left home there are things to be learned.

You lost your way, but you didn't lose control. Keeping your head together can get you through some tight places.

Great save!

TrishandAlex said:

Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting such a descriptive and honest TR.

It is extremely valuable to read reports like these. I for one really appreciate it when someone is brutally honest about the hardships and dangers they experienced on a hike. We all benefit from this kind of information.

Very glad you made it down safely.

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I think Trish's sentiments above bear repeating. I could not say it any better!