bryan
New member
date: 12/3/12
trails: ammonoosuc ravine trail, crawford path, monroe loop
conditions: parked at cog hiker parking. wet thawing ground down low interspersed with ice along the river. a couple significant ice flows up to the gem pool then a brief reprieve before ice coverage become nearly continuous. one large bulging flow shortly before the small ladder that we bushwacked around. once above the small water crossing below the falls (with the prominent turn arrow) the ledges were mostly ice covered if not with flow ice than with a glaze. more large flows between there to the hut that require serious care. today we were lucky with the warm temps that they were a bit soft and provided decent bite, but with a cool off they will be quite difficult and more dangerous. a bit of slush from the melting snow mixed in as well. wet snow up high below the hut and to monroe along with ice and exposed rock. snow up to a foot deep with some multi foot drifts, but mostly just a few inches generally over ice. the water crossings were not a problem.
equipment: we pushed our microspikes to the limit then switched to crampons on the ascent keeping them on to the summit and the descent below the upper ice flows. microspikes no longer cut it on this trail if you want to be safe, especially descending.
comments: an interesting day that didn't quite go as we had hoped. based on the forecast we made the decision to give some presidential peaks a shot despite the dastardly looking conditions sitting at bretton woods in the morning. though the summits did eventually clear in the afternoon and winds moderated we had a different experience with limited visibility and strong sustained winds that caked us in rime ice. thanks to technology we checked the conditions on washingtons summit on our return to the hut and being it was still gusting up near 70mph with over 60 sustained we decided to take our chances picking our way back down the ammo. if we had started a couple hours later it would have been a different story. a taste of winter and good warm up for our crampons anyway..... thanks to cynthia for a good hike and for being willing to give it a go.
bryan
[email protected]
trails: ammonoosuc ravine trail, crawford path, monroe loop
conditions: parked at cog hiker parking. wet thawing ground down low interspersed with ice along the river. a couple significant ice flows up to the gem pool then a brief reprieve before ice coverage become nearly continuous. one large bulging flow shortly before the small ladder that we bushwacked around. once above the small water crossing below the falls (with the prominent turn arrow) the ledges were mostly ice covered if not with flow ice than with a glaze. more large flows between there to the hut that require serious care. today we were lucky with the warm temps that they were a bit soft and provided decent bite, but with a cool off they will be quite difficult and more dangerous. a bit of slush from the melting snow mixed in as well. wet snow up high below the hut and to monroe along with ice and exposed rock. snow up to a foot deep with some multi foot drifts, but mostly just a few inches generally over ice. the water crossings were not a problem.
equipment: we pushed our microspikes to the limit then switched to crampons on the ascent keeping them on to the summit and the descent below the upper ice flows. microspikes no longer cut it on this trail if you want to be safe, especially descending.
comments: an interesting day that didn't quite go as we had hoped. based on the forecast we made the decision to give some presidential peaks a shot despite the dastardly looking conditions sitting at bretton woods in the morning. though the summits did eventually clear in the afternoon and winds moderated we had a different experience with limited visibility and strong sustained winds that caked us in rime ice. thanks to technology we checked the conditions on washingtons summit on our return to the hut and being it was still gusting up near 70mph with over 60 sustained we decided to take our chances picking our way back down the ammo. if we had started a couple hours later it would have been a different story. a taste of winter and good warm up for our crampons anyway..... thanks to cynthia for a good hike and for being willing to give it a go.
bryan
[email protected]
