All three of my ascents of Moosilauke were by the Glencliff Trail (plus an unsuccessful attempt; turned around on the Carriage Road a bit above treeline due to high winds). Time to try something different!!
My friend Mike and I reached the Ravine Road a bit after 8:30 AM (EDT, we had both reset our clocks on Saturday evening!!). The drive was safe, in spite of black ice warnings, but the Ravine Road itself was extremely icy, just getting to park was scary. Road was so bad that we put our snowshoes on as soon as we got out of the car; walking without some kind of traction seemed dangerous.
Temps were already warm, I last looked at the thermometer in Lincoln, it was around 30F. Probably colder at the much higher elevation of the road.
The Carriage Road had a track that looked well packed, but as those who barebooted found out, it was deceiving. Postholes all over the place, both human and moose.
The Gorge Brook Trail is very much less steep than the Glencliff Trail; I kept waiting for a really steep section and it never arrived. Also, being on the lee side of the mountain, it was sheltered most of the way. Occasionally we could hear the wind, and the clouds did seem to be moving awfully fast. We agreed that on the summit we would decide whether to brave the Carriage Road as planned, or turn around and scurry back to the lee side.
Somewhere above 4,000 feet winter caught up with us. Lower down the trees had no snow on them; here there were huge gobs of snow on most of the trees. The snow was also deeper on the ground, though we rarely found ourselves waliking in the branches.
The traversing sections of the switchbacks, at the higher elevations, were a bit tricky, since drifting snow had completely buried much of the trail, leaving a sloping side hill. Fortunately the snow was well consolidated, and the crampons on our snowshoes bit firmly into it.
Treeline on the Gorge Brook Trail is a vague term, as the trees get much more open but, for a long time, persist.
The final ascent in the open was windy, but less so than feared. I did wear my balaclava and pulled the hood of my shell over my head; my companion hiked with a hat and no hood. Clearly we were going down as planned!
We just touched the summit and turned onto the Carriage Road. The wind was moderately unpleasant, but nothing we had any difficulty dealing with. Still, we did not stop until we were in the shelter of the trees. Reaching the Glencliff junction we decided not to visit the South Summit, we had had enough wind for one day!
The Carriage Road below the junction was well groomed by snowmobiles; we only saw two of them on this Sunday with reasonably good weather. We had lunch a bit above the Snapper Trail junction.
The Snapper Trail had been absolutely butchered by bare booters. On the well packed Gorge Brook Trail they caused minimal damage, but on the much less travelled Snapper Trail, much used by skiers, they caused havoc. Two fairly heavy snowshoers made almost no improvement on the garbage the vandals left behind
We did not meet a single hiker all day, strange! On the way out on the Ravine Road we met four skiers, most had been on the other ridge.
Cloudy all day; some very nice views but too windy to enjoy those from the summit. Warm temps, but not yet enough to make the snow sticky on the way out.
Another great hike!
My friend Mike and I reached the Ravine Road a bit after 8:30 AM (EDT, we had both reset our clocks on Saturday evening!!). The drive was safe, in spite of black ice warnings, but the Ravine Road itself was extremely icy, just getting to park was scary. Road was so bad that we put our snowshoes on as soon as we got out of the car; walking without some kind of traction seemed dangerous.
Temps were already warm, I last looked at the thermometer in Lincoln, it was around 30F. Probably colder at the much higher elevation of the road.
The Carriage Road had a track that looked well packed, but as those who barebooted found out, it was deceiving. Postholes all over the place, both human and moose.
The Gorge Brook Trail is very much less steep than the Glencliff Trail; I kept waiting for a really steep section and it never arrived. Also, being on the lee side of the mountain, it was sheltered most of the way. Occasionally we could hear the wind, and the clouds did seem to be moving awfully fast. We agreed that on the summit we would decide whether to brave the Carriage Road as planned, or turn around and scurry back to the lee side.
Somewhere above 4,000 feet winter caught up with us. Lower down the trees had no snow on them; here there were huge gobs of snow on most of the trees. The snow was also deeper on the ground, though we rarely found ourselves waliking in the branches.
The traversing sections of the switchbacks, at the higher elevations, were a bit tricky, since drifting snow had completely buried much of the trail, leaving a sloping side hill. Fortunately the snow was well consolidated, and the crampons on our snowshoes bit firmly into it.
Treeline on the Gorge Brook Trail is a vague term, as the trees get much more open but, for a long time, persist.
The final ascent in the open was windy, but less so than feared. I did wear my balaclava and pulled the hood of my shell over my head; my companion hiked with a hat and no hood. Clearly we were going down as planned!
We just touched the summit and turned onto the Carriage Road. The wind was moderately unpleasant, but nothing we had any difficulty dealing with. Still, we did not stop until we were in the shelter of the trees. Reaching the Glencliff junction we decided not to visit the South Summit, we had had enough wind for one day!
The Carriage Road below the junction was well groomed by snowmobiles; we only saw two of them on this Sunday with reasonably good weather. We had lunch a bit above the Snapper Trail junction.
The Snapper Trail had been absolutely butchered by bare booters. On the well packed Gorge Brook Trail they caused minimal damage, but on the much less travelled Snapper Trail, much used by skiers, they caused havoc. Two fairly heavy snowshoers made almost no improvement on the garbage the vandals left behind
We did not meet a single hiker all day, strange! On the way out on the Ravine Road we met four skiers, most had been on the other ridge.
Cloudy all day; some very nice views but too windy to enjoy those from the summit. Warm temps, but not yet enough to make the snow sticky on the way out.
Another great hike!
