the starchild
New member
trip photos here
Day one, Friday, found V-rock and I parking at Pinkam Notch Visitor Center and hitching down to the 19 Mile Brook trailhead. A really nice Canadian couple picked us up. They were enjoying their first winter trip to the whites. We carried one meter mini-ski's for a quick and exciting decent of the Polecat Trail Sunday afternoon. The hike to Carter Notch Hut was uneventful and the weather alternated between a light rain and dry sky. Cramp-ons were helpful, if not needed, for some very icy sections. Snowshoes would have also worked fine. As we reached the top of the notch, I was super excited to spot the slide on wildcat, which the ridge trail traverses. The wind was really whipping through the notch. We descended to the frozen larger pond at dusk with beautiful reflections of the walls of wildcat on its surface.
There were only 16 of us bunking Friday night and I had the pleasure of meeting zman and some of his friends. We cooked chicken cordon-bleu and some rice for dinner and later baked brownies for everyone for desert. yep, we were roughin' it. The wind blew pretty steady all night.
Day two began with a hearty breakfast. We scrambled eggs with cheese and veggies, fried up some breakfast sausages and toasted bagels. Oh yeah, I ate the leftover rice from dinner too! We packed our bags for a trip up Carter Dome and onto Mt. Hight, retracing our steps back the hut to see all the views a second time. Cramp-ons and trekking poles were necessary to climb up the Carter-Moriah Trail and out of the notch. Snowshoes with well placed cramp-ons would also get you up this part of the trail. The view from near pulpit rock was super windy, but sweet. Across the notch we could see the Wildcat Ridge Trail climbing up to the summit. The trail really mellows out after this and goes through some very pretty open forest with a few views of the presi's here and there. The summits were hidden in clouds as sunshine brightly lit the snow on the lower alpine areas and valleys.
The sheltered summit areas of Carter Dome were calm enough to sit down on our packs and snack. Just steps away the wind was blowing a constant 30mph on the northwest facing bald area with summitless northern presi views. As we continued our hike over to Hight, Madison and Adams took turns peaking out from the clouds. Hight didn't seem to be as windy, but the wind was still enough to dissuade you from staring west at the presis for long periods of time, no matter how cool the fast moving clouds made them look. We did hang around for a while though, as it was pretty warm and the windchill was not bad at all. As we hiked back, the clouds continued to thin and the three northern peaks were all in the sun. We recrossed the Carter Dome summit and as we descended we witnessed Washington's summit escaping the clouds.
We arrived back at the hut with plenty of daylight to tramp around behind the hut checking out the boulder caves and having some fun with headlamps. Afterwards I climbed out into the ramparts to just sit down and enjoy the darkening sky and the large moon rising over the eroded side of Carter Dome. The wind wasn't too bad and I could have sat there for hours pondering climbing through the ramparts and whacking up to the ridge of the notch.
Although we only cooked a spaghetti dinner with fresh peppers sauteed in olive oil, an almost full house at the hut provided a smorgasbord of delicious leftovers including garlic bread! I feasted on steak, ham, a veggie mix and brownies with chocolate syrup and cool whip. I ate myself stupid. I almost forgot, freshly baked apple pie too.
Sunday morning V-rock and I were fully packed, including skis, but much lighter without all the gourmet hut food. We wore our crampons as there was still a bit of ice and we didn't know how the slide traverse toward the beginning would be. It turned out to be easy and cramp-ons were not needed, but I waited til we arrived at the view near wildcat summit to remove mine. V-rock kept hers on and carefully walked down all the steeper sections as we hiked along the ridge towards the top of the wildcat ski area. I slid/glissaded/skied with only my boots down the steeper sections and had a blast. The skis on the sides of our packs only snagged on the occasional branch. We post holed maybe a _ dozen times, but the trail was pretty well packed.
We geared up at the top of the ski area and headed down the 2.8 mile polecat trail. I haven't skied much and have never been on any big mountains before and this trail blew my mind. The 20ish pound packs didn't bother us too much as we winded down the trail with amazing views of the presis and ravines right in front of us. Amazing! At the bottom we just packed up our skis and walked to the road and started thumbing. We quickly got a ride up to pinkham in the back of a pick-up truck with a doggy keeping us company. A fine way to end a splendid trip.
Day one, Friday, found V-rock and I parking at Pinkam Notch Visitor Center and hitching down to the 19 Mile Brook trailhead. A really nice Canadian couple picked us up. They were enjoying their first winter trip to the whites. We carried one meter mini-ski's for a quick and exciting decent of the Polecat Trail Sunday afternoon. The hike to Carter Notch Hut was uneventful and the weather alternated between a light rain and dry sky. Cramp-ons were helpful, if not needed, for some very icy sections. Snowshoes would have also worked fine. As we reached the top of the notch, I was super excited to spot the slide on wildcat, which the ridge trail traverses. The wind was really whipping through the notch. We descended to the frozen larger pond at dusk with beautiful reflections of the walls of wildcat on its surface.
There were only 16 of us bunking Friday night and I had the pleasure of meeting zman and some of his friends. We cooked chicken cordon-bleu and some rice for dinner and later baked brownies for everyone for desert. yep, we were roughin' it. The wind blew pretty steady all night.
Day two began with a hearty breakfast. We scrambled eggs with cheese and veggies, fried up some breakfast sausages and toasted bagels. Oh yeah, I ate the leftover rice from dinner too! We packed our bags for a trip up Carter Dome and onto Mt. Hight, retracing our steps back the hut to see all the views a second time. Cramp-ons and trekking poles were necessary to climb up the Carter-Moriah Trail and out of the notch. Snowshoes with well placed cramp-ons would also get you up this part of the trail. The view from near pulpit rock was super windy, but sweet. Across the notch we could see the Wildcat Ridge Trail climbing up to the summit. The trail really mellows out after this and goes through some very pretty open forest with a few views of the presi's here and there. The summits were hidden in clouds as sunshine brightly lit the snow on the lower alpine areas and valleys.
The sheltered summit areas of Carter Dome were calm enough to sit down on our packs and snack. Just steps away the wind was blowing a constant 30mph on the northwest facing bald area with summitless northern presi views. As we continued our hike over to Hight, Madison and Adams took turns peaking out from the clouds. Hight didn't seem to be as windy, but the wind was still enough to dissuade you from staring west at the presis for long periods of time, no matter how cool the fast moving clouds made them look. We did hang around for a while though, as it was pretty warm and the windchill was not bad at all. As we hiked back, the clouds continued to thin and the three northern peaks were all in the sun. We recrossed the Carter Dome summit and as we descended we witnessed Washington's summit escaping the clouds.
We arrived back at the hut with plenty of daylight to tramp around behind the hut checking out the boulder caves and having some fun with headlamps. Afterwards I climbed out into the ramparts to just sit down and enjoy the darkening sky and the large moon rising over the eroded side of Carter Dome. The wind wasn't too bad and I could have sat there for hours pondering climbing through the ramparts and whacking up to the ridge of the notch.
Although we only cooked a spaghetti dinner with fresh peppers sauteed in olive oil, an almost full house at the hut provided a smorgasbord of delicious leftovers including garlic bread! I feasted on steak, ham, a veggie mix and brownies with chocolate syrup and cool whip. I ate myself stupid. I almost forgot, freshly baked apple pie too.
Sunday morning V-rock and I were fully packed, including skis, but much lighter without all the gourmet hut food. We wore our crampons as there was still a bit of ice and we didn't know how the slide traverse toward the beginning would be. It turned out to be easy and cramp-ons were not needed, but I waited til we arrived at the view near wildcat summit to remove mine. V-rock kept hers on and carefully walked down all the steeper sections as we hiked along the ridge towards the top of the wildcat ski area. I slid/glissaded/skied with only my boots down the steeper sections and had a blast. The skis on the sides of our packs only snagged on the occasional branch. We post holed maybe a _ dozen times, but the trail was pretty well packed.
We geared up at the top of the ski area and headed down the 2.8 mile polecat trail. I haven't skied much and have never been on any big mountains before and this trail blew my mind. The 20ish pound packs didn't bother us too much as we winded down the trail with amazing views of the presis and ravines right in front of us. Amazing! At the bottom we just packed up our skis and walked to the road and started thumbing. We quickly got a ride up to pinkham in the back of a pick-up truck with a doggy keeping us company. A fine way to end a splendid trip.
