bryan
New member
date: 2/10/13
trails: valley way, osgood trail, gulfside trail, snowfields, lowes path
conditions: appalachia parking was unplowed when we got there this morning so we had to shovel out spots for a couple cars leaving the others at lowes store. was plowed later in the day. there was one other hiker ahead of us breaking trail through roughly 1-1.5 feet of new powder snow over a hard base. some rocks, etc. to be found below the powder in spots. near the tent site the sidehill was a bit of a pain with the new snow sliding right off of the slippery base. once above treeline everything changed. other than drifts around the hut and on the east side of madison the footing was mostly bare rock with ice and hard pack snow. we were able to pick up some hard packed and crusty snow fields on adams which got us most of the way to the summit with minimal rock hopping. the upper section of lowes path had long sections of rock walking with interspersed bits of drifted snow until treeline where the coverage was much like valley way and had been broken out by another group heading up. a nice fast powder descent until around the cabin cut off where there was a fair amount of ice below the snow particularly in the steeper sections. some hidden rocks, roots, etc. under the new powder require a bit of attention in the lower section of the trail.
equipment: most of us wore snowshoes the whole hike with some microspiking and barebooting sections. i would suggest having snowshoes, crampons and light traction given the variable conditions.
comments: a beautiful day above treeline. not as windy or cold as i was expecting based on the forecast with great views under blue skies. still pretty cold on the summits, but quite warm at other points in the hike. footing was tedious and slow enough that we scrapped making an attempt on jefferson due to time. thanks to jeff, karine, cynthia, heather and joe for an awesome hike. a great day to finish off another single season 48.
bryan
[email protected]
trails: valley way, osgood trail, gulfside trail, snowfields, lowes path
conditions: appalachia parking was unplowed when we got there this morning so we had to shovel out spots for a couple cars leaving the others at lowes store. was plowed later in the day. there was one other hiker ahead of us breaking trail through roughly 1-1.5 feet of new powder snow over a hard base. some rocks, etc. to be found below the powder in spots. near the tent site the sidehill was a bit of a pain with the new snow sliding right off of the slippery base. once above treeline everything changed. other than drifts around the hut and on the east side of madison the footing was mostly bare rock with ice and hard pack snow. we were able to pick up some hard packed and crusty snow fields on adams which got us most of the way to the summit with minimal rock hopping. the upper section of lowes path had long sections of rock walking with interspersed bits of drifted snow until treeline where the coverage was much like valley way and had been broken out by another group heading up. a nice fast powder descent until around the cabin cut off where there was a fair amount of ice below the snow particularly in the steeper sections. some hidden rocks, roots, etc. under the new powder require a bit of attention in the lower section of the trail.
equipment: most of us wore snowshoes the whole hike with some microspiking and barebooting sections. i would suggest having snowshoes, crampons and light traction given the variable conditions.
comments: a beautiful day above treeline. not as windy or cold as i was expecting based on the forecast with great views under blue skies. still pretty cold on the summits, but quite warm at other points in the hike. footing was tedious and slow enough that we scrapped making an attempt on jefferson due to time. thanks to jeff, karine, cynthia, heather and joe for an awesome hike. a great day to finish off another single season 48.
bryan
[email protected]
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