Laura Cowles Trail vs. Sunset Ridge

[Sanbu]

On another thread, someone made a winter ascent of Mount Mansfield via Sunset Ridge, experienced a white out above treeline, and made a decision to descend Laura Cowles Trail. How do these two trails compare? Is Laura Cowles more sheltered from wind? Is it easier to follow? I haven't climbed either one in years and my memory of them is sketchy.

On a historical note, I recall the Green Mountain Club stopped maintaining the Laura Cowles Trail, circa 1970s. Not sure the reason why. At that time, the trail was "signed" near the bottom. The name of the trail was painted onto rocks at its starting point. The lettering was weathering out, and the Club hoped it would eventually fade into oblivion, thus hikers would not even know of its existence. But a relative of the one for whom the trail is named, repainted over the letters in bright yellow, right there on the rocks. The individual did it on his own authority without consulting the Club. The Club was highly perturbed for they wanted the trail abandoned, at least that's what I recall. Apparently the GMC un-abandoned the trail.

 

[weatherman]

On another thread, someone made a winter ascent of Mount Mansfield via Sunset Ridge, experienced a white out above treeline, and made a decision to descend Laura Cowles Trail. How do these two trails compare? Is Laura Cowles more sheltered from wind? Is it easier to follow? I haven't climbed either one in years and my memory of them is sketchy.

On a historical note, I recall the Green Mountain Club stopped maintaining the Laura Cowles Trail, circa 1970s. Not sure the reason why. At that time, the trail was "signed" near the bottom. The name of the trail was painted onto rocks at its starting point. The lettering was weathering out, and the Club hoped it would eventually fade into oblivion, thus hikers would not even know of its existence. But a relative of the one for whom the trail is named, repainted over the letters in bright yellow, right there on the rocks. The individual did it on his own authority without consulting the Club. The Club was highly perturbed for they wanted the trail abandoned, at least that's what I recall. Apparently the GMC un-abandoned the trail.

OK, so what I wrote below I wrote before searching for "Mt Mansfield" threads... and saw the one you're talking about. History repeats itself.... anyway, read on if you're interested for our experience...

That was my party, about 8-9 years ago. Quite an adventure! IIRC there were about 8 or 9 of us.

You left out that it was at night... since the solstice was just before 2 PM that day, and we wanted it to count for a winter hike, we didn't start till then... so we planned a night hike for the second part, just didn't plan the whiteout.

We found the Cowles Trail, at least that's the name I remember, right where it enters the trees, while trying basically to find any trail that would descend the mountain on the west side. Not even sure how much of it is above treeline, but we found the part that mattered... a way into the trees that a human had clearly made... and I think I remember a sign to go with it! Rocks were all snow covered, so any paint was not a factor for us.

It was a piece of cake to follow, especially compared to the previous couple of hours. Wide enough in the trees to be pretty obvious even with headlamps, occasional visible blazes, not too steep. Once we saw that sign, our panic level went from about an 8 to a 1. And the shelter of the trees made it seem a ton warmer too. Took our time going down so as not to do anything dumber than we already had, and all were safe and sound. Only bummer was there was no place to eat on the way home because it was too darn late.

I guess my only confusion is, whatever trail we took was clearly maintained. If the Cowles isn't, maybe it was another one. But whatever we did take was a really nice bail-out. Pretty sure it enters the trees to the south and east of where the Sunset Ridge does.