Boiler plate

[peakbagger]

Hey folks, the weather conditions up in the Northern Presidentials from the Wednesday storm has set the potential for "boiler plate" conditions this weekend. We got significant snow at 1400 feet and then 2 hours of rain then a bit more powder. As of this morning, the stuff can be shoveled, but a couple of cold days and nights is going to make it solid. In the short term breaking trail is going to be interesting with a light crust on top of possibly sticky wet snow. Keep an eye on stream crossings, the ice bridges may be eroded out from underneath.

IMHO, my predictions are that once a trail is broken out, its going to turn into a bobsled chute. Crampons and snowshoes with crampons are not going to be optional.

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

Thanks for the warning

 

[sardog1]

And it's also worth generalizing this excerpt from the Forest Service Avalanche Advisory this morning:

We're now becoming accustomed to seeing avalanche activity in atypical locations. Fractures this morning were evident in a couple of faint gullies farther down the ridge from the Escape Hatch. The Boott Spur ridge has multiple slides from Gully #2 all the way over to the Dead End gully. Left Gully has a fracture line down in the constriction below the funnel. Lately we've been talking a lot about unusual activity. Keep this in mind as you are planning your trip up here, whether it's for today, this weekend, or next month. What we've come to think of over the past couple years as "safe places" is not necessarily the case anymore.

Although the Advisory is written specifically for Tuckerman and Huntington Ravines, it's something to keep in mind in other avalanche terrain that one might ordinarily view as "atypical" for slides.

 

[DrewKnight]

Report from XC trail: solid ice makes for "fast" conditions

I just spoke with my wife, who was out on the Waterville Valley XC trail network... she reported glare ice and very difficult conditions as of noon Thursday. Things will probably get better with further grooming, but it's not pretty right now. I would assume the same holds true on ungroomed trails and in the woods today.

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

I would guess it holds pretty much everywhere. I wore StabilIcers to get to my car

 

[carole]

In the Lakes region we had about 8” of overnight snow then all day sleet, freezing rain and rain on Wed, which froze solid overnight.

Today (Thurs), on my regular weekday jaunt up Mt. Major, I was breaking through a very icy crust leaving big chunks in my wake. Below was a nice granular powder. Some sections broke readily and others sections I was walking on top with snowshoes (near the top I had to dig in for traction). On my return I used the same trail (Main) to break up the chunks left from my ascent. It would take several more to make it a good track. Two were on their way up as I descended.

It reminded me of a hike to Isolation in very similar conditions, but that day we had two groups of 10 people taking turns. I often find the conditions on Major give me a good indicator of the conditions in the Whites.

And the ice coating on everything glistened in the sun to make a dazzling hike.

 

[MadRiver]

I had a hard time walking around Plymouth this afternoon, so my hike to the Hancocks on Saturday should be interesting.

 

[sardog1]

carole,

Thanks for the Major report. We have the same crust over here -- the dogs stay on top, snowshoers break through . . . and skiers break something else, methinks.

I was thinking about heading over there tomorrow. But with a favorable forecast, I think I'll pick something higher and farther north.

 

[ADKnBVI]

In Ashland (Lakes Region) we've got just shy of 3 feet of snow in the yard, and the icy crust on top is almost impenetrable. I was beating on it with my fists earlier today - granted, they are girly fists - but could not break through.

Stabilicers to the mailbox and everything

Valerie

 

[bikehikeskifish]

I did Madison today (2/14) via Valley Way. Not much ice to speak of. Bare-bootable to the hut and if you are cautious, probably all the way to the top. Dave (Enapai) wore instep crampons, I went with G10s, but the Microspikes would have made do, I suspect.

Tim

 

[DougPaul]

There is a report on the amc-ski mailing list that rain fell in all of NH except the Mt Washington summit cone.

I was at Sunapee today--some of the groomed slopes were ok to nice, but the off-trail ice was so thick and strong that one could walk on it.

Doug

 

[Waumbek]

Ditto here. I snowshoed in the Franconia area at 1500-2000' yesterday and encountered the boiler plate conditions. I was breaking trail and it was slow going. Deep in the woods under trees was OK, but anything out in the open or semi-open at lower elevations is like "plate tectonics."

 

[Tim Seaver]

Armored Trees

I did the Mt. Kinsman trail to the Kinsmans yesterday - there was a breakable crust a few inches below the surface, which petered out around 3200'. Above that point, it was just 2 feet of dense snow to break trail though. No boilerplate in sight in this part of the woods, only a very short section where there was a crust supportive enough to stay on the surface. The amount of ice on the trees up high is pretty amazing though - just nudging a branch with your head or shoulder felt like coming in contact with a rock. Lots of overhanging things in the trail!

 

[Andrew]

As I shovel endless piles of thick sheet encrusted snow, I'm noticing heavy sheets are sliding down on top of the packed layers and not breaking up.

Makes me wonder if these start down steep slopes, they could knock you off your feet and send you flying or other nasty damage.

Mebbe this will be something to watch out for this weekend.

 

[una_dogger]

Sounds like great conditions for crampon and ice axe travel in the Whites!

Have a fun time up North everyone -- unfortunately for me I've been laid low with the flu *and* pulled a nasty back muscle slipping on glare ice in my driveway....sigh.....

 

[Dugan]

We had some trouble in western MA today. We wore snowshoes not for the float but for traction. Even so, we were sliding around on the thick ice crust in steep areas.

 

[jrichard]

We had some trouble in western MA today. We wore snowshoes not for the float but for traction. Even so, we were sliding around on the thick ice crust in steep areas.

At least in southern NH, it might be best to stay home if you're a lightweight. Or pack some ballast.

The ice is thick enough that snowshoes will ride the crust unless you really plant them down. And without them you'll posthole and cut your shins on boilerplate. After a half mile of this you might look like dentonfabrics' avatar.

Still, it might be worth it to practice kicking steps with snowshoes.

Oh, you can get a few minutes of pleasure sliding broken ice sheets slide downhill and watching them shatter against the trees. I wonder - if the hill was long enough, with enough trees, would the patterns result in a binomial distribution?

 

[peakbagger]

I was up snowshoeing in Milan NH just east of York pond on Saturday. Little or no signs of significant crust but about 3 feet of snow. Makes for some interesting trail breaking.

 

[Pat T]

I tried out my new BC skis at Windblown (NH) on Sunday. It was amazing what they can do with their trails. It was fun and fast skiing. My husband snowshoed up to the top of their mountain (on the Wapack trail). He had a tough time with his MSR Denalis and had to be careful with every step on the heavy duty boiler plate. He ended up descending on the side of the open slope (groomed). The lower snowshoe trails were much easier and, at Windblown, the snowshoers are welcome to use the untracked portions of the ski trails.

Not sure what yesterday's rain did to their trails. My hiking yesterday consisted of a long walk through New Orleans' Audubon Park to the Mississippi River for a leisurely look at the sunset. No mountain peaks here but plenty of "Views".

Pat T

 

[Chip]

The trail around Sunapee and over to Lake Solitude was solid ice on Saturday. I'm glad I had traction at White Ledges as there was a wind blown channel that swept down and over the cliff that would be a short, fast slide without.