Madison 01/27/06

[MEB]

Have you ever had a day turn out to be something you had not expected? Well, it happened to me last Friday. My original plan was to spend last weekend skiing and ice fishing with family and friends and take a break from hiking. That thought lasted all of one day so I compromised with myself and decided to do a short hike up Pleasant Mountain. But, by Wednesday I changed my mind once again and planned to go up Pierce and Eisenhower instead.

So, Friday morning Rachel and I head out with thoughts of tackling plan c. However, as we were riding down North-South Road in N Conway Rachel looked over at me and simply said, “What about Madison and Adams?” My reply was an enthusiastic “Oh yeah, good idea!” We made a quick stop at Pinkham to purchase some additional gear, check the weather and to make a quick phone call back home with our new plans.

Driving on towards Appalachia we knew we were in for a real windy day above treeline but we figured Valley Way is very protected and if things go too dicey above treeline than we would just turn around. Anyway, we headed out sometime after 8:30 and we could hear the wind roaring above us and there was not a cloud to be seen anywhere.

Just before reaching the hut we both stopped to layer up and put our crampons on. I was expecting the wind to be much colder than it was and we were both pleasantly surprised how warm it actually felt. It took us quite a while to get to the summit, as we had to stop frequently so as to not get knocked over by the wind. I’ve been in big wind before but nothing ever like this! It was so awesome! By the time we made it back down to the hut it was a bit after 1:00 so we decided to save Adams for another day. Had we not had obligations to get back to the camp we would have continued on. So, instead we found a semi-sheltered area by the hut and hung out for a while eating lunch and taking pictures.

I did take some video shots with the camera but I can’t seem to figure out how to upload them. Oh well. Here are some of the pictures though. http://community.webshots.com/user/mbaross

-MEB

 

[sapblatt]

Great hike!

Really cool (and windy) and really impressive.

 

[timmus]

Hi MEB

I really like your B/W photos, but my favorite is #8... Actually, it make me want to jump off the fence and go to NH (I am now working on my ADK46).

What I remember the most about the Presidentials (did Washington in september) is the knee-breaking rocks on the ridges. Are they covered with ice and snow during winter ?

 

[MEB]

Hi Timmus, Yes, there was quite a bit of ice from the hut on up the the summit and wearing crampons was necessary. The rocks were only a problem when the big gusts came and made me lose my balance. We also encountered some fairly deep drifts, some above the knees. With the wind blowing the way it was though our tracks were pretty much gone by the time we headed back down.

-MEB

 

[giggy]

nice report and pix!! fun stuff - I thought the same on sat - the winds were pretty high - but not cold at all

 

[kmac]

MEB---Nice Pics
Looks like you guys had fun!
kmac

 

[king tut]

nice pics! I really like #9 , the black and white one w/ the wind blown snow and mt washington in the background. I would imagine the footing would be a bit difficult on all those rocks above madison hut.

 

[LenDawg]

Awesome T/R and Pics as always, Mebster! Looks like an awesome time!!!

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

Neat report and your photos look just like what I saw two days later, minus the rime on the Madison summit sign. Not sure what wind direction you had on Friday (I guess that I could look it up), but one trick for climbing Adams from Mad hut in W or NW winds is the Star Lake Trail, which is protected until the final summit ridge.