RoySwkr
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This was something like my 6th try at Mansfield in winter although most of them never really got started - once the weather was too bad to leave home, once the road into Underhill was too muddy and I climbed something else, one time I heard on the radio driving up that Montpelier was in danger of flooding and spent the day filling sandbags, etc.
Started off in boots on packed trail but after maybe .8 mile entered an area of glade skiing where it was hard to discern the packed route so switched to snowshoes when I got tired of postholing. I think it would be hard for someone not familiar with the area to pick out the Long Trail here, but fortunately I was following recent snowshoe tracks which periodically passed a white blaze a couple feet above the snow. Finally lost the correct route just before Taft Lodge but saw the lodge through the trees and wandered over.
Met a local guy who had just done the Long Trail/Profanity loop in crampons who said conditions were the best he'd ever seen - all the rocks were covered with snow and walking was easy. I followed the line of posthole crampon tracks up what may have been the Profanity Trail - I never saw a blaze or cairn or sign but it followed an obvious natural route under cliffs. Put on crampons partway up when it got steep and insulated jacket when it got windy.
Above treeline was a winter wonderland with no rocks visible except the top 2 at the summit cairn, but obvious packed trail. Met a guy who came up from Underhill who said the road wasn't muddy yet but might be with more warm days. Switched back to snowshoes at Taft Lodge and took them off above brook crossing. Snowboarder at Taft said the Cliff Trail up from the gondola terminal was so well packed it was like walking upstairs to your bedroom - am I the only one who remembers that when that lift was built the state said there would be no access to the summit from there and it was left off GMC maps for years?
I was glad to have both snowshoes and crampons but there were plenty of people who walked up in snowboard boots and rode down - me, I'd want a parachute to do Hourglass!
Started off in boots on packed trail but after maybe .8 mile entered an area of glade skiing where it was hard to discern the packed route so switched to snowshoes when I got tired of postholing. I think it would be hard for someone not familiar with the area to pick out the Long Trail here, but fortunately I was following recent snowshoe tracks which periodically passed a white blaze a couple feet above the snow. Finally lost the correct route just before Taft Lodge but saw the lodge through the trees and wandered over.
Met a local guy who had just done the Long Trail/Profanity loop in crampons who said conditions were the best he'd ever seen - all the rocks were covered with snow and walking was easy. I followed the line of posthole crampon tracks up what may have been the Profanity Trail - I never saw a blaze or cairn or sign but it followed an obvious natural route under cliffs. Put on crampons partway up when it got steep and insulated jacket when it got windy.
Above treeline was a winter wonderland with no rocks visible except the top 2 at the summit cairn, but obvious packed trail. Met a guy who came up from Underhill who said the road wasn't muddy yet but might be with more warm days. Switched back to snowshoes at Taft Lodge and took them off above brook crossing. Snowboarder at Taft said the Cliff Trail up from the gondola terminal was so well packed it was like walking upstairs to your bedroom - am I the only one who remembers that when that lift was built the state said there would be no access to the summit from there and it was left off GMC maps for years?
I was glad to have both snowshoes and crampons but there were plenty of people who walked up in snowboard boots and rode down - me, I'd want a parachute to do Hourglass!
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