docross
In Memoriam to a Deceased Member
Yesterday was a perfect day to work on my winter NH HH, and Fred Shirley and I had a great trip to these peaks off the north side of the Kanc.
A group of us had attempted the peaks in October after the bad storm that dumped a foot of wet snow and caused numerous blowdowns. We found then that the Hancock Notch Trail was completely impassable beyond the Cedar Brook junction, so we abandoned our attempt to go up the slide on the north side of Huntington col.
Yesterday the snow conditions were very different, after all the rain and warm weather we've had. The snow base was about a foot deep, and highly compacted, but still required snowshoes to avoid postholing. Blue skies and temps in the 20s made for good conditions.
We started at the 2500 foot level on the Kanc, near a convenient pull-off (not a true parking lot) located on the south side of the road, about 150 yards from where we entered the woods.
And enter the woods we did! The first 100 yards were very thick with fir, and we just had to bull our way through. We headed west toward the drainage, and broke out into the open. You can see a map of our track at my website, under GPS tracks.
We headed on a bearing of 045 deg mag. toward the col, but finding open spots kept leading us left toward the drainage as we ascended. The drainage was always more open than the surrounding ridges, and as we went up, we found we were heading directly toward the main peak (on the left).
We did go through a few bands of thick stuff, and a stick forest on the summit cone, but the summit itself was open, and we easily bagged the bottle, which is a glass pickle jar. Because of internal condensation and freezing, the plastic bag required some effort to remove from the jar, but we succeeded and signed the log, which is a fairly new one.
We then headed down the col, again looking for open spots, and we found them. It was easy going except occasionally, and heading for the left (north) side of South (?Middle ?East) Huntington's long flat summit, we spotted the bottle almost immediately, this time a plastic Jif jar with a red cap. There was a jar with a yellow cap nearby, without a register.
After signing the register, we headed south of west, hitting some gnarly stuff until we came upon our footprints. After that it was just a matter of getting down to the road.
We had great, but limited, views of the Osceolas on the way down. The trip took us 5:20 total, leaving us plenty of time to head to Lincoln for a latte on the way home.
For me, #86 and #87 in all-seasons.
A group of us had attempted the peaks in October after the bad storm that dumped a foot of wet snow and caused numerous blowdowns. We found then that the Hancock Notch Trail was completely impassable beyond the Cedar Brook junction, so we abandoned our attempt to go up the slide on the north side of Huntington col.
Yesterday the snow conditions were very different, after all the rain and warm weather we've had. The snow base was about a foot deep, and highly compacted, but still required snowshoes to avoid postholing. Blue skies and temps in the 20s made for good conditions.
We started at the 2500 foot level on the Kanc, near a convenient pull-off (not a true parking lot) located on the south side of the road, about 150 yards from where we entered the woods.
And enter the woods we did! The first 100 yards were very thick with fir, and we just had to bull our way through. We headed west toward the drainage, and broke out into the open. You can see a map of our track at my website, under GPS tracks.
We headed on a bearing of 045 deg mag. toward the col, but finding open spots kept leading us left toward the drainage as we ascended. The drainage was always more open than the surrounding ridges, and as we went up, we found we were heading directly toward the main peak (on the left).
We did go through a few bands of thick stuff, and a stick forest on the summit cone, but the summit itself was open, and we easily bagged the bottle, which is a glass pickle jar. Because of internal condensation and freezing, the plastic bag required some effort to remove from the jar, but we succeeded and signed the log, which is a fairly new one.
We then headed down the col, again looking for open spots, and we found them. It was easy going except occasionally, and heading for the left (north) side of South (?Middle ?East) Huntington's long flat summit, we spotted the bottle almost immediately, this time a plastic Jif jar with a red cap. There was a jar with a yellow cap nearby, without a register.
After signing the register, we headed south of west, hitting some gnarly stuff until we came upon our footprints. After that it was just a matter of getting down to the road.
We had great, but limited, views of the Osceolas on the way down. The trip took us 5:20 total, leaving us plenty of time to head to Lincoln for a latte on the way home.
For me, #86 and #87 in all-seasons.
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