Jazzbo
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- Joined
- Jan 1, 2005
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Participated in AMC hiking party of five led by Doug and Mike two AMC winter hike leaders who I’ve hiked with before. We met at 8:00 AM at Tramway Parking. As it was still windy we opted to go to Lafayette Place and ascend via Hi Cannon and Kinsman Ridge Trails. Turned out to be a good choice as wind was never an issue until we were at the top.
We started on Lonesome Lake Trail and we put on our crampons when we got to Hi Cannon and kept them on for most of the rest of the hike. Snow wasn’t very deep at the trailhead, maybe 2 inches of fresh powder on top of 2-3 inches hard icy crust. Crampons worked great on the stuff. Hi Cannon is steep, but you climb fast. We made good time. There were only few minor blow downs on these routes. Visibility was superb. Franconia Ridge looked magnificent in the early morning sun. The ladder located near the top of the Hi Cannon looked pretty tired, but was sturdy enough. We didn’t relish the idea of going down the ladder so we decided we’d descend via the Kinsman Ridge Trail to avoid the ladder.
As we got closer to the top the crust snow was tending towards 12-18” deep. There was inch of powder and rime on the spruces near the summit requiring leaders to knock snow off. We got to the summit about 12:00. Summit was splendid. It was windy but not oppressive. I'm guessing maybe 25 mph? We loved the 100+ miles 360 degree views in all directions.
On descending we were surprised to find a long steep icefall immediately below the junction of Hi Cannon and Kinsman Ridge Trail that was very tricky to negotiate. Ten or twelve point crampons were mandatory here. An ice ax would have been even better. This was the only icefall we encountered though and the rest of the way was smooth sailing. The ladder would have been easier than this patch. We stopped at Lonesome Hut briefly where we observed a thermometer that read 20 deg F at 2:00PM and returned to the cars. All in all a very fine day to be in the mountains.
We started on Lonesome Lake Trail and we put on our crampons when we got to Hi Cannon and kept them on for most of the rest of the hike. Snow wasn’t very deep at the trailhead, maybe 2 inches of fresh powder on top of 2-3 inches hard icy crust. Crampons worked great on the stuff. Hi Cannon is steep, but you climb fast. We made good time. There were only few minor blow downs on these routes. Visibility was superb. Franconia Ridge looked magnificent in the early morning sun. The ladder located near the top of the Hi Cannon looked pretty tired, but was sturdy enough. We didn’t relish the idea of going down the ladder so we decided we’d descend via the Kinsman Ridge Trail to avoid the ladder.
As we got closer to the top the crust snow was tending towards 12-18” deep. There was inch of powder and rime on the spruces near the summit requiring leaders to knock snow off. We got to the summit about 12:00. Summit was splendid. It was windy but not oppressive. I'm guessing maybe 25 mph? We loved the 100+ miles 360 degree views in all directions.
On descending we were surprised to find a long steep icefall immediately below the junction of Hi Cannon and Kinsman Ridge Trail that was very tricky to negotiate. Ten or twelve point crampons were mandatory here. An ice ax would have been even better. This was the only icefall we encountered though and the rest of the way was smooth sailing. The ladder would have been easier than this patch. We stopped at Lonesome Hut briefly where we observed a thermometer that read 20 deg F at 2:00PM and returned to the cars. All in all a very fine day to be in the mountains.
