DSettahr
Active member
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2005
- Messages
- 981
- Reaction score
- 142
When I arrived at the trailhead, I found about an inch of new snow on the ground, with tracks from yesterday still visible. Despite the warm weather, the snow had not started to melt yet and was still powdery. The first part of the trail was in pretty good shape. I could have managed easily without snowshoes but was fine with them on.
The depth of the snow increased slowly but steadily once I reached the steep section and began to gain altitude. I also began to encounter a lot of ice on the steeper sections, but with my MSR snowshoes I was able to scramble right up most of it. Following the trail became difficult at times, as the snow on the trunks of the trees obscured the trail markers, and the hikers from the previous day turned around not to far past the old site of the fire tower caretakers cabin. Towards the summit, the snow got to be about a foot deep in some places, and almost everywhere covered a layer of ice and packed down old snow.
I reached the summit after about 2 hours of hiking. The view was amazing, and well worth the effort. I could see the High Peaks, and the Northwest Lakes and scattered mountains to the North and West. I spent about an hour on the summit enjoying the view, there was hardly and breeze and it was pretty warm out. The trees were all covered in snow but it was quickly melting.
The trip down was somewhat sketchy. In the time that I had remained on the summit, the snow had turned from powder into mashed potatoes. The layer of ice beneath it all made for some tricky footing, and I fell once or twice on my way down. It was the perfect conditions for snow to ball up on the bottoms of my snowshoes. By the time I returned to the trail head, most of the snow there had melted already.
Gear wise, I wore regular hiking pants with rain pants as an outer layer to keep my legs dry, and a soft shell jacket over a t-shirt, and was very comfortable. I did not need gloves, even when I stuck my hand in the snow for balance. I did bring crampons, which probably would have made the descent easier, but it never got bad enough that I felt that I needed them.
The depth of the snow increased slowly but steadily once I reached the steep section and began to gain altitude. I also began to encounter a lot of ice on the steeper sections, but with my MSR snowshoes I was able to scramble right up most of it. Following the trail became difficult at times, as the snow on the trunks of the trees obscured the trail markers, and the hikers from the previous day turned around not to far past the old site of the fire tower caretakers cabin. Towards the summit, the snow got to be about a foot deep in some places, and almost everywhere covered a layer of ice and packed down old snow.
I reached the summit after about 2 hours of hiking. The view was amazing, and well worth the effort. I could see the High Peaks, and the Northwest Lakes and scattered mountains to the North and West. I spent about an hour on the summit enjoying the view, there was hardly and breeze and it was pretty warm out. The trees were all covered in snow but it was quickly melting.
The trip down was somewhat sketchy. In the time that I had remained on the summit, the snow had turned from powder into mashed potatoes. The layer of ice beneath it all made for some tricky footing, and I fell once or twice on my way down. It was the perfect conditions for snow to ball up on the bottoms of my snowshoes. By the time I returned to the trail head, most of the snow there had melted already.
Gear wise, I wore regular hiking pants with rain pants as an outer layer to keep my legs dry, and a soft shell jacket over a t-shirt, and was very comfortable. I did not need gloves, even when I stuck my hand in the snow for balance. I did bring crampons, which probably would have made the descent easier, but it never got bad enough that I felt that I needed them.
