Jim lombard
New member
Drewski, MtnPa, Sherpa John, Sarah and I hiked the Jewell trail on Saturday. After all the warmth and rain it looked like the area around Twin Mountain had gotten a ton of snow, maybe just under a foot. I began to wonder how the hiking trails would be today. Passing by Crawford Path I noticed tracks in what looked like 4-6 inches of powder. We met at the Highland and headed over to the lower parking lot at the Cog.
Just after 8:15 we headed up to Jewell, crossing the Cog tracks and a patch of glare ice. We started with snowshoes on our packs but in less than a quarter mile I stopped and put them on. The snow was only 2-4 inches deep over a hard cake of ice, easy going.
We ran into our first blowdowns and the Mt Beaver Brigade unslung their saws making short work of the softwoods bent down over the path. Drew's wicked saw was sharp and worked great. Soon we had taken down several balsam and branches of bigger trees that we just ducked under. Sarah wasn't feeling that great, she and John spent the night in the HC bunkhouse amidst a festive group who stayed up well into the night. She also has diabetes and mornings can be hard for her.
Up we went on the gradual Jewell, never steep, with switchbacks and nice moderate sections. The tunnel of snowcovered greenery was beautiful set against a light blue sky. The Mt Washington observatory had forcast a calm day for the higher summits and we were heading there.
MtnPa went on ahead after we'd cleared the worst of the blowdowns while SJ tried to thaw out Sarah's sugar meter. Lets just say it was an inventive procedure and leave it at that. She was reading in the 200's. I went up following MtnPa (Mike's) tracks in the snow. It was still easy going up above 3,500, snowshoe crampons bit beautifully into the hard-pack. If you're a seasoned winter hiker you know what a wonderful feeling that is.
I met Mike higher up just before you pop out of the trees and said he'd wait for us up there. I waited for the others just below the outlook and soon we were all adding a layer. The views here were stunning, stately Southern Presidentials with their striation ridges almost seeming to meet at the bottom. All summits were in the clear, Drew pointed out Killington and Mansfield far away.
Now we would be above treeline for a long time. Temp's weren't bad and there wasn't even a breath of wind. I felt good about our summit chances.
At another spot to breathe and get a bite to eat I noticed that below Franconia ridge seemed to be socked in but the peaks were above the clouds. The clouds looked nasty but stayed over there.
We decided to take a little shortcut to Gulfside, some took off their snowshoes as we popped out on the ridge below Clay. Sherpa John stayed with Sarah who was resting below. Drew, Mike and I signalled to John that we'd be moving on, slowly but onward to Jefferson.
And we went down and down a long ways into Sphinx col, we looked back and saw John and Sarah silouetted against the ridgeline. John hopped down quickly to meet us. Sarah was done and he'd stay with her as they hiked back down Jewell. I admired her courage at having made it that far.
So the three of us headed off all feeling good that Sarah and John were OK and with our goal standing tall and pretty against high thin clouds and blue. Back up out of Sphinx was a slog but we did fine. Drew and Mike shed their packs as we got back on the level part of Gulfside. I wanted to take some pictures so I kept mine on.
Drew led us up the mix of icy hard-pack and fluffy snow. We all barebooted here with plenty of gray dry rocks to step on for traction. There's one spot it looked like you could slide for quite a little ways but when I tumbled there later on the way down I stopped quickly with my poles. It's not a bad climb up to the summit, the trail winds around and then with a Whoop Drew was on top, his 8th winter summit. I joined him a little later, my 25th and then Mike. It was before 1pm.
I was a little tired and hungry but we decided to hike back to our packs, just a couple of pictures and a few seconds were all we had on the summit. We really didn't want to hold up Sarah and John in case they'd stopped and were waiting for us. The food back at Drew and Mike's pack reunion was opened and tasted great. Winds were light and it almost felt warm though the landscape looked arctic.
The slog back up the side of Clay wasn't bad and we all had a breather on the high point, it wasn't even 2pm yet. Washington stood clear and this was truly one of those days you could've gotten over to it but we'd be going down with headlamps and it wasn't in the plans anyway. So we found our shortcut and quickly headed back down Jewell. I put my snowshoes on after the worst of the rocks.
We moved quickly (for Jewell) in summer on a wet day it can be a long hike to the trees because of all the rocks. Back below the trees we blazed down the trail, barely pausing at all we were back at the Cog as it sent it's last ski train down the mountain and closed up shop for the day. Sarah and John waited for us there. John had spent quite some time cutting down that big blowdown right near the parking lot. Go Mt Beavers!
Rare day in the Pressies with great company. I'll have a few pictures later in the week
Just after 8:15 we headed up to Jewell, crossing the Cog tracks and a patch of glare ice. We started with snowshoes on our packs but in less than a quarter mile I stopped and put them on. The snow was only 2-4 inches deep over a hard cake of ice, easy going.
We ran into our first blowdowns and the Mt Beaver Brigade unslung their saws making short work of the softwoods bent down over the path. Drew's wicked saw was sharp and worked great. Soon we had taken down several balsam and branches of bigger trees that we just ducked under. Sarah wasn't feeling that great, she and John spent the night in the HC bunkhouse amidst a festive group who stayed up well into the night. She also has diabetes and mornings can be hard for her.
Up we went on the gradual Jewell, never steep, with switchbacks and nice moderate sections. The tunnel of snowcovered greenery was beautiful set against a light blue sky. The Mt Washington observatory had forcast a calm day for the higher summits and we were heading there.
MtnPa went on ahead after we'd cleared the worst of the blowdowns while SJ tried to thaw out Sarah's sugar meter. Lets just say it was an inventive procedure and leave it at that. She was reading in the 200's. I went up following MtnPa (Mike's) tracks in the snow. It was still easy going up above 3,500, snowshoe crampons bit beautifully into the hard-pack. If you're a seasoned winter hiker you know what a wonderful feeling that is.
I met Mike higher up just before you pop out of the trees and said he'd wait for us up there. I waited for the others just below the outlook and soon we were all adding a layer. The views here were stunning, stately Southern Presidentials with their striation ridges almost seeming to meet at the bottom. All summits were in the clear, Drew pointed out Killington and Mansfield far away.
Now we would be above treeline for a long time. Temp's weren't bad and there wasn't even a breath of wind. I felt good about our summit chances.
At another spot to breathe and get a bite to eat I noticed that below Franconia ridge seemed to be socked in but the peaks were above the clouds. The clouds looked nasty but stayed over there.
We decided to take a little shortcut to Gulfside, some took off their snowshoes as we popped out on the ridge below Clay. Sherpa John stayed with Sarah who was resting below. Drew, Mike and I signalled to John that we'd be moving on, slowly but onward to Jefferson.
And we went down and down a long ways into Sphinx col, we looked back and saw John and Sarah silouetted against the ridgeline. John hopped down quickly to meet us. Sarah was done and he'd stay with her as they hiked back down Jewell. I admired her courage at having made it that far.
So the three of us headed off all feeling good that Sarah and John were OK and with our goal standing tall and pretty against high thin clouds and blue. Back up out of Sphinx was a slog but we did fine. Drew and Mike shed their packs as we got back on the level part of Gulfside. I wanted to take some pictures so I kept mine on.
Drew led us up the mix of icy hard-pack and fluffy snow. We all barebooted here with plenty of gray dry rocks to step on for traction. There's one spot it looked like you could slide for quite a little ways but when I tumbled there later on the way down I stopped quickly with my poles. It's not a bad climb up to the summit, the trail winds around and then with a Whoop Drew was on top, his 8th winter summit. I joined him a little later, my 25th and then Mike. It was before 1pm.
I was a little tired and hungry but we decided to hike back to our packs, just a couple of pictures and a few seconds were all we had on the summit. We really didn't want to hold up Sarah and John in case they'd stopped and were waiting for us. The food back at Drew and Mike's pack reunion was opened and tasted great. Winds were light and it almost felt warm though the landscape looked arctic.
The slog back up the side of Clay wasn't bad and we all had a breather on the high point, it wasn't even 2pm yet. Washington stood clear and this was truly one of those days you could've gotten over to it but we'd be going down with headlamps and it wasn't in the plans anyway. So we found our shortcut and quickly headed back down Jewell. I put my snowshoes on after the worst of the rocks.
We moved quickly (for Jewell) in summer on a wet day it can be a long hike to the trees because of all the rocks. Back below the trees we blazed down the trail, barely pausing at all we were back at the Cog as it sent it's last ski train down the mountain and closed up shop for the day. Sarah and John waited for us there. John had spent quite some time cutting down that big blowdown right near the parking lot. Go Mt Beavers!
Rare day in the Pressies with great company. I'll have a few pictures later in the week
