Who: MEB, Little Sister, Dr. Wu, Swamp, Gooly, Ferrisjrf, Gillian, Mtnpa and me.
Trail: Skookumchuck to Garfield Ridge, up to Lafayette and then Lincoln and then back the same way.
The original plan was to hike to Hale via the Fire Warden's Trail, so a group gathered at the Mountain Bean around the 9am meeting time. When all were accounted for (no Mats due to not feeling 100%) people started throwing out ideas for alternative above-treeline hikes due to the glorious day that seemed to be shaping up. After much indecisiveness, we decided on Lafayette via Skookumchuck to make the parking easy.
We all donned our snowshoes and finally hit the trail around 10am. The trail had a few new inches of soft snow which I assume didn't create too much work for those in the lead. We made steady progress and the small water crossings posed no problems. As we got closer to the ridge I stopped to make some gear changes and when I finished I found the rest of the group stopped just around the corner at the junction with the Garfield Ridge Trail chatting with Drew, Cath, LRiz and Eric who were traveling along the ridge on their way to Garfield.
The group had separated with Mtnpa, Swamp and Dr. Wu somewhere still en route to the junction. The rest of us headed up to Lafayette with a mix of crampons, snowshoes and microspikes, all of which were fine on the terrain we encountered. There were some icy patches on the north side of Lafeyette (more noticeable on the way down). The wind was a bit stronger but we had plenty of still stretches as well. Some photos on top of Lafayette (congrats Gooly on your first winter NH48!) and then naturally we decided that Lincoln didn't look too far away.
We made our way over to Lincoln through some patches of fluffy snow and crunchy ice and rocks. Quick stop on Lincoln and then back the way we came. Met only three other hikers up on the ridge including one fellow who was enjoying his first hike in the Whites and was planning to camp somewhere in the neighborhood of Greenleaf Hut.
Trip back out was uneventful. Mtnpa, Dr Wu and Swamp had opted for turning back after Lafayette, so they beat us to the Mtn. House where several of us stopped in for a quick visit.
Another fun day out! Pictures here: Franc Ridge 1.10.09
Trail: Skookumchuck to Garfield Ridge, up to Lafayette and then Lincoln and then back the same way.
The original plan was to hike to Hale via the Fire Warden's Trail, so a group gathered at the Mountain Bean around the 9am meeting time. When all were accounted for (no Mats due to not feeling 100%) people started throwing out ideas for alternative above-treeline hikes due to the glorious day that seemed to be shaping up. After much indecisiveness, we decided on Lafayette via Skookumchuck to make the parking easy.
We all donned our snowshoes and finally hit the trail around 10am. The trail had a few new inches of soft snow which I assume didn't create too much work for those in the lead. We made steady progress and the small water crossings posed no problems. As we got closer to the ridge I stopped to make some gear changes and when I finished I found the rest of the group stopped just around the corner at the junction with the Garfield Ridge Trail chatting with Drew, Cath, LRiz and Eric who were traveling along the ridge on their way to Garfield.
The group had separated with Mtnpa, Swamp and Dr. Wu somewhere still en route to the junction. The rest of us headed up to Lafayette with a mix of crampons, snowshoes and microspikes, all of which were fine on the terrain we encountered. There were some icy patches on the north side of Lafeyette (more noticeable on the way down). The wind was a bit stronger but we had plenty of still stretches as well. Some photos on top of Lafayette (congrats Gooly on your first winter NH48!) and then naturally we decided that Lincoln didn't look too far away.
We made our way over to Lincoln through some patches of fluffy snow and crunchy ice and rocks. Quick stop on Lincoln and then back the way we came. Met only three other hikers up on the ridge including one fellow who was enjoying his first hike in the Whites and was planning to camp somewhere in the neighborhood of Greenleaf Hut.
Trip back out was uneventful. Mtnpa, Dr Wu and Swamp had opted for turning back after Lafayette, so they beat us to the Mtn. House where several of us stopped in for a quick visit.
Another fun day out! Pictures here: Franc Ridge 1.10.09
