T
ThomasC
Guest
Trails: Air Line, Gulfside, Osgood, Valley Way
Conditions: Air Line was a firm, and well packed in the morning. There were a series of icy bulges at around 3500' or so. We negotiated them fairly easily with micro-spikes, but crampons wouldn't have been overkill. Towards treeline the snow was a stable monorail with postholes at the sides. Along Durand Ridge, Air Line is mostly bare rock, with some avoidable snow and ice. Once off the ridge snow and ice increase somewhat, but is still largely avoidable. Gulfside was soft, and prone to postholes outside of packed footbed. Osgood to the summit of Madison had occasional patches of snow and ice, but was largely rock-hopable. For most of its length, Valley Way was well packed, with a layer of slushy snow on top. The sides of the trail were prone to postholing as I did a couple of times. There were some icy sections that were easily handles with micro-spikes. You could hear water running under the surface in quite a few spots, including several places where it was visible. Lower down the trail surface becomes a thin layer of ice.
Special Equipment: We saw quite a few people wearing crampons, which in certain spots probably weren't overkill, but we got along fine in our micro-spikes without ever feeling that we were pushing their limits. We kept them on below treeline and took them on and off above, depending on the amount of snow.
Comments: An absolutely beautiful day. It felt like late April. It hardly seems fair to count these towards the Winter 48.
Pics and trip report: http://peakpursuits.blogspot.com/2012/03/mount-adams-and-mount-madison-17-march.html
tcarlile at gmail
Conditions: Air Line was a firm, and well packed in the morning. There were a series of icy bulges at around 3500' or so. We negotiated them fairly easily with micro-spikes, but crampons wouldn't have been overkill. Towards treeline the snow was a stable monorail with postholes at the sides. Along Durand Ridge, Air Line is mostly bare rock, with some avoidable snow and ice. Once off the ridge snow and ice increase somewhat, but is still largely avoidable. Gulfside was soft, and prone to postholes outside of packed footbed. Osgood to the summit of Madison had occasional patches of snow and ice, but was largely rock-hopable. For most of its length, Valley Way was well packed, with a layer of slushy snow on top. The sides of the trail were prone to postholing as I did a couple of times. There were some icy sections that were easily handles with micro-spikes. You could hear water running under the surface in quite a few spots, including several places where it was visible. Lower down the trail surface becomes a thin layer of ice.
Special Equipment: We saw quite a few people wearing crampons, which in certain spots probably weren't overkill, but we got along fine in our micro-spikes without ever feeling that we were pushing their limits. We kept them on below treeline and took them on and off above, depending on the amount of snow.
Comments: An absolutely beautiful day. It felt like late April. It hardly seems fair to count these towards the Winter 48.
Pics and trip report: http://peakpursuits.blogspot.com/2012/03/mount-adams-and-mount-madison-17-march.html
tcarlile at gmail
