bryan
New member
date: 3/15/12
trails: stratton brook pond road, firewardens trail, appalachian trail
conditions: parked in the small plowed area on stratton brook pond road a short distance in from the highway. there was a dusting of fresh snow on all the trails and trees in the morning that turned into a sticky top coat by the afternoon. from the parking to the pond outlet the road was snowmobile packed and consisted of crusty snow and ice with some patches of bare dirt. the outlet crossing was a straight forward rock hop today. beyond the outlet there was a fair bit of bare earth and packed snow. firewardens trail down low was a mix of very thin snow/ice coverage with lots of rock and roots coming through and sections of full coverage with a quickly forming and narrow monorail. it is truly spring on the south facing slopes of the bigelows. snow coverage is more consistent higher up and the steeps were mostly covered with crusty snow, but still had significant exposed rock and ice starting to come through. once at bigelow col there was deeper snow, but still probably 3 feet less than was there this time last year. up to avery peak there was a solid side slope to treeline than mostly bare rock to the summit except for one large drifted area in the sag just before the final ascent. to west peak there was a good packed, but narrow base to treeline and above the treeline the snow was very soft and even with snowshoes i was postholing through the base. the water crossings on firewardens trail were either still tentatively snowbridged, easy rock hops or they have footbridges.
equipment: i started in microspikes on the road, but switched to snowshoes once on firewardens and wore them to the summits and most of the way back down. on the way up i pushed through the lower mile of firewardens with them on, but it was to thin to descend in snowshoes so i went back to spikes. some may want crampons for the steeps on the firewardens trail especially if more ice keeps coming through or we eventually get a good hard freeze.
comments: what a day to complete a single season ne67 on the bigelows. based on forecasts i didn't expect any views today, but wanted to beat the heat wave given how much sun the majority of this route gets. much to my surprise around 3500 feet or so i started to see blue skies and i hiked right out of the clouds and once on the summits was treated to one of the most amazing undercasts i've ever seen. just a sea of clouds in all directions with only the other local 4k peaks and higher 3ks sticking up above it. truly spectacular. i couldn't have imagined a better day to be up there. it's been a great winter.
bryan
[email protected]
trails: stratton brook pond road, firewardens trail, appalachian trail
conditions: parked in the small plowed area on stratton brook pond road a short distance in from the highway. there was a dusting of fresh snow on all the trails and trees in the morning that turned into a sticky top coat by the afternoon. from the parking to the pond outlet the road was snowmobile packed and consisted of crusty snow and ice with some patches of bare dirt. the outlet crossing was a straight forward rock hop today. beyond the outlet there was a fair bit of bare earth and packed snow. firewardens trail down low was a mix of very thin snow/ice coverage with lots of rock and roots coming through and sections of full coverage with a quickly forming and narrow monorail. it is truly spring on the south facing slopes of the bigelows. snow coverage is more consistent higher up and the steeps were mostly covered with crusty snow, but still had significant exposed rock and ice starting to come through. once at bigelow col there was deeper snow, but still probably 3 feet less than was there this time last year. up to avery peak there was a solid side slope to treeline than mostly bare rock to the summit except for one large drifted area in the sag just before the final ascent. to west peak there was a good packed, but narrow base to treeline and above the treeline the snow was very soft and even with snowshoes i was postholing through the base. the water crossings on firewardens trail were either still tentatively snowbridged, easy rock hops or they have footbridges.
equipment: i started in microspikes on the road, but switched to snowshoes once on firewardens and wore them to the summits and most of the way back down. on the way up i pushed through the lower mile of firewardens with them on, but it was to thin to descend in snowshoes so i went back to spikes. some may want crampons for the steeps on the firewardens trail especially if more ice keeps coming through or we eventually get a good hard freeze.
comments: what a day to complete a single season ne67 on the bigelows. based on forecasts i didn't expect any views today, but wanted to beat the heat wave given how much sun the majority of this route gets. much to my surprise around 3500 feet or so i started to see blue skies and i hiked right out of the clouds and once on the summits was treated to one of the most amazing undercasts i've ever seen. just a sea of clouds in all directions with only the other local 4k peaks and higher 3ks sticking up above it. truly spectacular. i couldn't have imagined a better day to be up there. it's been a great winter.
bryan
[email protected]
