Are crampons needed for North Brother?

[MarkL]

If there's been a fair amount of recent snow without sleet, freezing rain, or any thawing and refreezing, would fairly aggressive snowshoe cleats be adequate for North Brother, or are there spots where crampons are likely to be needed?

I'm still hoping to get this trip in Jan3-4 despite the following:

http://www.accuweather.com/us/me/mi...t.asp?partner=accuweather&traveler=1&metric=0

Note what it says in the "Weather Alarm" section just below the date!

Well, if not hoping, at least trying to maintain a faint hope.

 

[stu]

Very tough call!

I think you will have to bring them because you won't know the conditions until the crux of the climb. I would not want to get that far in only to have to turn back or worse. Good luck on this and be safe.

Cheers, Stu

 

[skiguy]

I think you will have to bring them because you won't know the conditions until the crux of the climb. I would not want to get that far in only to have to turn back or worse. Good luck on this and be safe.

Cheers, Stu

Better to have them and not need them than to not have them and need them!

 

[nartreb]

The crux is likely to be the steep section on the uphill side of Small Pond. Assuming no unusual icing I'd guess you have better than 50% odds of sticking to snowshoes the whole way, but like the others I'd feel a lot more comfortable carrying crampons.

Note: I haven't done it in winter, just guessing based on slope and dryness in summer and fall.

 

[spencer]

I'm not one to leave gear behind but this time I feel differently.
If I were going after the impending dumping I would not bring them up the trail with me. I expect you'll have a hard enough time wading through the snow that you won't dare take your snowshoes off at all.

I remember one trip on the Brothers several years ago when we could barely get up the steep slope nartreb is talking about. We just kept sliding back down the hill in the boatloads of snow.

Now, if you are talking about ascending or descending Coe slide, that's another story...

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

We needed crampons a few years ago for the traverse from SB to NB on boilerplate ice, but that was before I owned MSR Denali's, which probably would have been sufficient.

 

[MarkL]

I should have specified that I'd be going up and back the Marston Trail and doing only N. Brother.
I couldn't find Small Pond on my Topo! map. Is it on the BSP map? (not handy at the moment)
Normally with an unknown mountain, I'd just bring the crampons. I was hoping to hear that there wasn't anything cruxy enough on this trail to demand them.
My main reason for asking gets into other topics. My Camp Ice Trek crampons fit only my leather boots, which are not my warmest. They used to fit a now discarded pair of pac boots. My new pac boots are larger than the old. I bought extender bars which make the crampons long enough, but the adjustable side pieces don't go wide enough. I'm looking for a fix. Camp-USA hasn't responded to my December 8th e-mail, or to my phone messages yesterday and today. Anyway, until I find a fix, I'm in one. I can't use them in colder temps because the leather boots aren't good for prolonged periods of single digits or lower.
But that's not too relevant now because I've called off the NB trip. The latest word from BSP is that Golden Road and Telos Road will not be plowed until "sometime" Sunday. "Sometime" is vague because it depends on when it stops snowing and it makes sense to plow. I can't commit to a ~1000 mile round trip based on hoping it stops early enough for them to plow. Also, thee were only 2 of us, and initial forecasts of 34.5"(Accuweather) on top of a recent 12" snowfall sounded like too much. This morning their phone message said they were expecting 26". Today I see the Accuweather model is calling for 19.5" [amazing how they can call it to the half inch!) And the temps look mild. Oh, maybe I shouldn't have called it off. What to do? I HATE this.

 

[spencer]

Go anyway. You'll have an epic trip and a great story to tell back home.

what the hell are you going to do at home anyway?

BOOOORRRRINNNNGGGG.......

 

[MarkL]

...

what the hell are you going to do at home anyway?

BOOOORRRRINNNNGGGG.......

Funny YOU should ask. I would try out the pulka that I'm currently putting together in my apartment.

 

[nartreb]

Small Pond is the (surprise!) small pond next to the Marston trail. Accurate trail maps for the Brothers are hard to find online, so I made one some time ago, which you can find on this route page on Summitpost

 

[MarkL]

Small Pond is the (surprise!) small pond next to the Marston trail. Accurate trail maps for the Brothers are hard to find online, so I made one some time ago, which you can find on this route page on Summitpost

nartreb,
I saw a small pond on my NG* Topo!, but it was far off trail. When I went home last night I looked at the large BSP map I bought at BSP, I saw the trail going right next to the pond and realized the routes were quite different. Thanks for confirming that and posting your map.

*could mean two things.

 

[Jay H]

I have climbed North Brother in winter before and I did not need crampons. The final summit push is exposed rock but found my even less-aggressive Northern Lite snowshoes crampon fine for the ice covered rock. MSRs, generally have more grip for the icy summits, especially the Lightning Ascents.

However, I carried crampons and I would recommend them, just in case, as others have said, better to have them and not need them..

P.S. the climb past Small Pond was steep but it's below tree line and the snow was pretty deep there. Once you hit the ridge trail that goes from N. Brother to S. Brother... you have 8/10ths of a mile to the summit of North Brother. This trail can have huge snow drifts and filled in trenches! I remember wallowing on the trail for short periods of time, making the trail breaking for me very slow.

Jay