Bombadil
Active member
1-24-13
On a whim decided to do a night hike up Moriah solo to brave the cold temps. Started up ~5:30 pm and although the temp at the trailhead was 0F I heard it was already -20 on Mt. Washington. The winds were very light down low and fooled me into thinking it wouldn't be too bad up high. Trail was well broken out until ~3500 where heavy drifting eliminated any sign of travel except on ledges where some marks were evident in the ice. The brook crossing was well bridged. A very recent blowdown after the brook crossing looked to have come down today. I barebooted until the CMT junction and just stopping to swap microspikes for snowshoes really cooled my core rather dramatically. The thermometer on my pack indicated -20 F and while it isn't super accurate I suspect it was definitely below -10 F for sure judging by the temp profile on Washington. The wind was quite fierce on the open ledges, really pushing me around and given the extreme cold I began thinking about bailing since my face was icing up. I made pretty good time and took a quick summit pic of my frozen face and another one of the -25 F thermometer reading on my pack before my camera died from the cold. I quickly zipped back down the CMT eagerly awaiting to get back down to lower elevations where the wind was much more benign. I should hike in the frigid cold solo more often, thanks to being too cold to stop and eat or drink it took just 3 1/2 hours RT with some light trailbreaking at upper elevations. The death of the young snowmobiler in Gorham this week after spending a night out was heavy on my mind and this wasn't my brightest idea but its good to push into uncomfortable conditions from time to time and -25F is a new coldest temp I've hiked in. I may not be in any rush to try and top that.
Pat
pcushing21 at yahoo dot com
On a whim decided to do a night hike up Moriah solo to brave the cold temps. Started up ~5:30 pm and although the temp at the trailhead was 0F I heard it was already -20 on Mt. Washington. The winds were very light down low and fooled me into thinking it wouldn't be too bad up high. Trail was well broken out until ~3500 where heavy drifting eliminated any sign of travel except on ledges where some marks were evident in the ice. The brook crossing was well bridged. A very recent blowdown after the brook crossing looked to have come down today. I barebooted until the CMT junction and just stopping to swap microspikes for snowshoes really cooled my core rather dramatically. The thermometer on my pack indicated -20 F and while it isn't super accurate I suspect it was definitely below -10 F for sure judging by the temp profile on Washington. The wind was quite fierce on the open ledges, really pushing me around and given the extreme cold I began thinking about bailing since my face was icing up. I made pretty good time and took a quick summit pic of my frozen face and another one of the -25 F thermometer reading on my pack before my camera died from the cold. I quickly zipped back down the CMT eagerly awaiting to get back down to lower elevations where the wind was much more benign. I should hike in the frigid cold solo more often, thanks to being too cold to stop and eat or drink it took just 3 1/2 hours RT with some light trailbreaking at upper elevations. The death of the young snowmobiler in Gorham this week after spending a night out was heavy on my mind and this wasn't my brightest idea but its good to push into uncomfortable conditions from time to time and -25F is a new coldest temp I've hiked in. I may not be in any rush to try and top that.
Pat
pcushing21 at yahoo dot com
