Tim Seaver
Well-known member
Super nice day for doing this loop, even though the snow was pretty soft. Someone had done the trail fairly recently on snowshoes, but their oddly weaving footsteps suggested they had a hard time staying on the trail - we found the trail corridor where we could and used it whenever possible, so our two paths deviated and joined again numerous times in the section that weaves over the "lookout humps". Also, the yellow blazes are infrequent and pretty tired looking, and the trail in general needs a good trimming, so be prepared to sniff around for the trail a bit if you venture up this way - the above treeline section is well cairned and much easier to navigate.
The views from the first overlook was clear and crisp, Huntington still gleaming white, although this side of the Presidential Range wasn't quite as frosty looking as it had from the west. Our feeble attempt at an alpine start, 6:15 am, was already punishing us, as the snow which hadn't even frozen overnight was already becoming even more mashed potato-like by 8 am. Good thing this isn't the Eigerwand.
The highlight of the day was next. Slightly past the junction with the Boott Spur Link, the trail makes a steep climb over a hump, then crosses a narrow section of the ridge that appears to funnel winds coming up from Tuckerman's. Today it was really howling, with 70-80+ mph winds. I have had to crawl through this section many times before, but never seen it quite like this.
The "fun" part was about a 50 foot stretch of trail at the focal point of this wind phenomena, where a jetstream of ice particles was blasting across the trail ( You can see the "sandblaster alley" effect in the picture as a whitish-grey, blurry streak raking across the cairns) Just beyond this point, the winds were much lighter.
We used snowshoes to just past Boott Spur, as the Alpine Garden is already pretty rocky in the flats. As the Inferno race was today, skiers and hikers were everywhere enjoying the atmosphere and watching the action. We wandered over to the Lions Head and watched the skiers for awhile, then stumbled down the ruins of the Lions Head trail, a miserable and wretched collection of deep holes and slushy, mushy steps.
On the way down, I hit my hip and tweaked my foot, which already had a toe issue going, so I was pretty grumpy and slow by the time we hit the Tuckerman trail. Small children and elderly people whizzed by us. Girl scouts skipped by. An arctic box turtle elbowed past. We eventually made it down to Pinkam and extricated our car from the Inferno madhouse at about 2 pm.
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