An Awesome Ammonoosuc Adventure

[CRAZY BOB]

Awesome trip report and photos Tim! You guys are hardcore.

 

[Kevin Judy and Emma]

as I said elsewhere...

Stellar report and photos! Glad you guys had a great day out there!

KDT

 

[hikes-with-him]

Any way to post some of these pictures in something other than webshots or facebook? I can't get into either of these from work (the only place I have access to the internet) and the trip report and comments are making me feel jealous I can't see.

Thanks...

 

[Barkingcat]

Excellent report and impressive trek!

 

[DrJJFate]

Great report and photos. Looks like you had fun. Ammonoosuc is one of my faves anytime of year.

 

[grouseking]

Man, that looks like one heckova hike! Congrats!!

Grouseking

 

[MarkL]

I salute your determination to bushwhack up steep, deep snow when your goal was still miles away and not even visible.
I'm facing a hard week of "vacation" in the Whites starting Sunday, so this report is a big relief.

In someone's report since the big wet snow, they suggested using Pam or other spray oil to prevent snow build-up on snowshoes, crampons, etc. If anyone is at all uneasy about that bat encounter on the way down, just buy the GARLIC flavored Pam. Obviously Tim, Bob, Mike, and Justin were not using it. Am I right?!

 

[bikehikeskifish]

We didn't use Pam, garlic or other, on Tuesday. I used to use it on my bicycle pedals while cyclocross racing and it did in fact help. I've heard it (and WD40, which is less eco-friendly) work on snowshoes as well.

Tim

 

[Kevin Judy and Emma]

Bat

I bet one of you picked up that bat as a passenger in "The Dungeon".

KDT

 

[bikehikeskifish]

I bet one of you picked up that bat as a passenger in "The Dungeon".

KDT

Interesting idea! That would mean we took it all the way to Washington and back, and then up Monroe. Not impossible I suppose.

Tim

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Here is a synopsis of an e-mail thread I had with a wildlife biologist at NH F&G, Non-game:


Tim: I was wondering if anyone tracks information about bats. I saw a bat in, of all places, the Ammonoosuc Ravine below Mount Washington on 3/2/2010. Definitely not the right time of year. Someone mentioned that it might be White Nose Fungus.

Wildlife: Thank you for your report. It may be a bat with white-nose syndrome. We had one other report of a bat flying near there this winter.

We are collecting data on bats through on online system shared with the state of Vermont. You can access it through our website at http://wildlife.state.nh.us/Wildlife/Nongame/bats.html Or directly at www.vtfishandwildlife.com/Sick_Acting_Bat_Citizen_Reporting_Form.cfm.

Our website also give more information on white-nose syndrome and links to other informative sites.

Tim: Subsequent to reporting this, I have heard another "theory" in that we disturbed the bat in the "dungeon" (the emergency shelter under the Lake Of The Clouds Hut) and it crawled into a pack or some other item of gear, and did not leave until the ravine. This would mean one of the four of us carried it from the dungeon to the summit of Washington, and then back to the hut where it sat in our gear as we left it while ascending Monroe. This seems unlikely to me given the number of times we put on/take off/adjust our packs.

Wildlife: It is highly unlikely that a bat crawled into a pack. It is also unlikely that any bats were hibernating there. They need to have a constant winter temperature around them above freezing for them to hibernate, and be able to wake back up. The weather conditions are likely too harsh for that.

Tim: I would assume then it probably was lost and blown off course from some place warmer than the area on the slopes of Mt Washington, which is generally well-below freezing for most of the winter, even in tree hollows or other places bats may hibernate.

Wildlife: Your assumption of it being lost is likely correct.

Thanks for the new map. I looked at your previous one, but this one is
also helpful. We'll have to look for the hibernacula in the warmer
months, and then survey it next winter. I hope that the Forest Service
biologists will have some ideas as to the possible location of the
hibernacula.

It is critical that people do not go into caves and mines, even in the
summer. The fungus that is killing our bats can be carried on boots,
packs and other gear, and thus infect a new site. We think this is how
the disease spread from NY to West Virginia, as it is too far for bats
to fly and a caver survey showed that cavers visited the NY sites then
the W. VA sites. Since you seem to like going off-trail (or was that
just by necessity?) if you find cave or mine openings, write down the
GPS coordinates and send them to me. We follow a strict decontamination
process for entering caves and mines.

Thanks again for following up on these sightings. It is very helpful.


Tim

 

[bristlecone]

Wow, nice trip. Glad the gully didn't slide. The avy conditions are supposed to be somewhat dicey now, especially on north-facing slopes which are aren't getting the solar radiation to solidify the snowpack.

I'll add some more words of caution. Monroe brook, like any gully and slide path, is a natural avalanche track and a terrain trap (the snow flows into the center of the slide as it descends and there's no way out). In the most recent cycle, large avalanches ripped out new paths all over the west side, most notably in Burt and Ammo ravines, then more fresh snow was deposited on top of that. Your observations of the slide in the smaller gully correctly remind us that it doesn't have to be a big, wide open area to get a slide.

I'm sorry that this is a little preachy, but based on the TR, I think that it's lucky that you weren't caught in a slide. All the snowfall that had occurred, the slide in the small gully, and the 2-4' of fresh in Monroe Brook are all big warning signs. In that kind of terrain and in those conditions, any travellers really need a beacon, shovel, probe, skills using them, and the training to assess avy risks. (If this is the case for your group, I apologize - but I didn't get that impression from the TR.) Waiting for low avalanche conditions from tuckerman.org is prudent, but they are forecasting only for tuckerman/huntington and conditions are always spatially variable.

On another topic, I saw a bat around noon last Sunday in the lower part of the ammo ravine trail, then again at the parking lot! Same fellow?

Beautiful pic!

 

[cushetunk]

On another topic, I saw a bat around noon last Sunday in the lower part of the ammo ravine trail, then again at the parking lot! Same fellow?

Sounds like maybe there is a cave or other hibernation site nearby, and multiple bats with white-nosed syndrome are appearing. Without a food source, bats (or any other critter) can't keep their metabolism going to survive outside in the cold.

Waking up from hibernation, which the WNS causes, is bad for bats because they burn up all their stored energy quickly to maintain a high body temp and fly around, when they should be burning that energy very slowly, with a low (hibernation) body temp.

 

[LivesToHike]

Great hike!

Great trip report and wonderful photos. What a day on the mountain!
--Mike