Galehead/South Twin: I didn't know what to expect after the light rain most of the previous day, but since I had 48 peaks remaining on my NH-W list, I thought I could choose almost anything. The optimistic plan was for Galehead, South and North Twin, and possibly Garfield (if the Garfield Ridge trail was broken out). I had done this group last October. After walking 1.6 mi up the Gale River road, now a snowmobile trail, I reached the summer trailhead. After that, the easy stuff was over and I was breaking trail all day. The snow conditions ranged from fragile crust over firm snow to deep snow--typically over a foot or more of of dense powder. Early on, probably after a couple of hours, I knew I wasn't going to climb all four peaks. I reached the Galehead hut from the trailhead in about 3.5 h of non-stop climbing--last fall I did it in 1.5 h. After a short break, I became thoroughly frustrated in losing the trail to little Galehead Mt in the blowdown field about 100 yards from the hut. After wasting about 40 minutes looking for the trail and exploring some spruce traps, I headed off to South Twin. The steep trail (1000 feet in 0.8 mi) was dense, deep snow with not a trace of previous use. At six hours into the hike, I knew I wasn't going 1.3 miles over to North Twin and back. I expected I would lose the trail and wasn't particularly interested in walking into the wind either. Back at the hut, I had time to make a second attempt at Galehead. This time, I spotted the path on the other side of the blowdown field and easily followed the low corridor to the summit (43 min up, 13 min down). I descended a lot faster than I had ascended, but it was still slow because the snow was too deep and dense for good sliding (future hikers will curse those MSR punch-holes). All day I wondered why no one had hiked this popular route in the previous week or so, but I like trailbreaking and I got plenty of it.
Field, Willey, Tom: Staying at AMC's Highland Lodge (a very nice place by the way), these peaks are literally out the back door. The temperature was in the 20s F and light snow was in the forecast, so I thought surely these easy peaks had been broken out recently and I would be back in time for lunch. Well, at least I was able to follow a set of tracks, probably from the day before, to Mt. Avalon (the first 1.8 mi). After that, I was trailbreaker-in-chief all the way again. The trail to Field was relatively easy to follow, but I was concerned about going out the ridge 1.4 mi to Willey. This trail wanders around a lot, so I got out the trusty compass and set it on southeast according to the route on the map. Except for an illogical right turn about 5 minutes from the summit, the archaic tool guided me perfectly. Back on Field, I was looking forward to a nice downhill and short ascent of Mt Tom (certainly on the list of easiest 4000 footers in the Whites). The sun had come out and I could even see down in the valley, then about the time I reached the Mt Tom spur trail, the unexpected snowstorm hit--whiteout conditions challenged me climbing this little peak. My glasses were caked and fogged with snow/ice, but I was able to see a little bit of a path. The A-Z trail back to the lodge was the most difficult of the day--I thought I would just be cruising down. Visibility improved and the snow let up, but the trail had not been used in a while and had 1-2 feet of unbroken snow. And let me tell you, those infrequent paint marks on trees are not worth much--especially if the tree was coated with snow. With some difficulty at a couple of poorly marked sharp turns (easy in summer, no doubt), I managed to make it back to the lodge. Mrs. Cedar was kindly waiting at the door for my arrival and had been bugging the hell out of the desk clerk all afternoon. And need I say she was none too happy with my delayed return in the storm. Not wanting to drive home in the snow storm, we decided to treat ourselves to another night at the lodge and feasted again on their fine food. All was well in the end.
Field, Willey, Tom: Staying at AMC's Highland Lodge (a very nice place by the way), these peaks are literally out the back door. The temperature was in the 20s F and light snow was in the forecast, so I thought surely these easy peaks had been broken out recently and I would be back in time for lunch. Well, at least I was able to follow a set of tracks, probably from the day before, to Mt. Avalon (the first 1.8 mi). After that, I was trailbreaker-in-chief all the way again. The trail to Field was relatively easy to follow, but I was concerned about going out the ridge 1.4 mi to Willey. This trail wanders around a lot, so I got out the trusty compass and set it on southeast according to the route on the map. Except for an illogical right turn about 5 minutes from the summit, the archaic tool guided me perfectly. Back on Field, I was looking forward to a nice downhill and short ascent of Mt Tom (certainly on the list of easiest 4000 footers in the Whites). The sun had come out and I could even see down in the valley, then about the time I reached the Mt Tom spur trail, the unexpected snowstorm hit--whiteout conditions challenged me climbing this little peak. My glasses were caked and fogged with snow/ice, but I was able to see a little bit of a path. The A-Z trail back to the lodge was the most difficult of the day--I thought I would just be cruising down. Visibility improved and the snow let up, but the trail had not been used in a while and had 1-2 feet of unbroken snow. And let me tell you, those infrequent paint marks on trees are not worth much--especially if the tree was coated with snow. With some difficulty at a couple of poorly marked sharp turns (easy in summer, no doubt), I managed to make it back to the lodge. Mrs. Cedar was kindly waiting at the door for my arrival and had been bugging the hell out of the desk clerk all afternoon. And need I say she was none too happy with my delayed return in the storm. Not wanting to drive home in the snow storm, we decided to treat ourselves to another night at the lodge and feasted again on their fine food. All was well in the end.
