bryan
New member
date: 12/24/12
trails: lonesome lake trail, fishin' jimmy trail, kinsman ridge trail, taft ski trail, mittersill ski trails
conditions: winter parking at lafayette place is well maintained. summer lot looked to still be accessible as well. lonesome lake trail had a packed layer of crusty snow to the hut. more of the same on fishin jimmy with increasing depth though too rough for snowshoes. most of the ice is covered, but a few spots required care. once on the ridge there was a nice track with a new layer of powder snow on top over the kinsmans with a bit of ice just before the summit of south kinsman. the scrambly sections ascending north kinsman from both directions had enough snow coverage to make ice a non-issue. from kinsman junction to the upper terminus of lonesome lake trail the ridge trail was much less travelled with some old bareboot postholes and one other set of non-snowshoe tracks through before us today. our snowshoes further broke the trail out and smoothed things out a bit. depths varied, but often over a foot of snow coverage in the woods with wind packed drifts and deeper powder sections along the trail. ice was mostly covered. a few blowdowns to circumnavigate one bunch in particular will be annoying with more snow. once heading up cannon proper there is more ice present on the steeps and we did a short off trail bypass of one section. taft trail on cannon had ok coverage for snowshoes with lots of loose powder. more of the same high on mittersill peak then bony and icy in the middle of the descent. light snow coverage over grass down low. mittersill peak is currently closed and i imagine it will take a couple more big dumps of snow in order for it to open.
equipment: we wore microspikes up to the ridge then snowshoes worked well for us. carried crampons, but did not use them though i highly recommend having them in case of changing conditions on fishin jimmy or the steep climb to cannon on the kinsman ridge trail.
comments: nice day to be on the kinsman ridge. i hadn't hiked either of these peaks since last winter and i was happy to get back up there to finish off my 13th 4k round. conditions were pretty quick with enough snow to cover most of the ice up high. cold and a bit windy in spots, but skies cleared by the afternoon and we got some nice views from the tower on cannon. thanks to cynthia for a great hike.
bryan
[email protected]
trails: lonesome lake trail, fishin' jimmy trail, kinsman ridge trail, taft ski trail, mittersill ski trails
conditions: winter parking at lafayette place is well maintained. summer lot looked to still be accessible as well. lonesome lake trail had a packed layer of crusty snow to the hut. more of the same on fishin jimmy with increasing depth though too rough for snowshoes. most of the ice is covered, but a few spots required care. once on the ridge there was a nice track with a new layer of powder snow on top over the kinsmans with a bit of ice just before the summit of south kinsman. the scrambly sections ascending north kinsman from both directions had enough snow coverage to make ice a non-issue. from kinsman junction to the upper terminus of lonesome lake trail the ridge trail was much less travelled with some old bareboot postholes and one other set of non-snowshoe tracks through before us today. our snowshoes further broke the trail out and smoothed things out a bit. depths varied, but often over a foot of snow coverage in the woods with wind packed drifts and deeper powder sections along the trail. ice was mostly covered. a few blowdowns to circumnavigate one bunch in particular will be annoying with more snow. once heading up cannon proper there is more ice present on the steeps and we did a short off trail bypass of one section. taft trail on cannon had ok coverage for snowshoes with lots of loose powder. more of the same high on mittersill peak then bony and icy in the middle of the descent. light snow coverage over grass down low. mittersill peak is currently closed and i imagine it will take a couple more big dumps of snow in order for it to open.
equipment: we wore microspikes up to the ridge then snowshoes worked well for us. carried crampons, but did not use them though i highly recommend having them in case of changing conditions on fishin jimmy or the steep climb to cannon on the kinsman ridge trail.
comments: nice day to be on the kinsman ridge. i hadn't hiked either of these peaks since last winter and i was happy to get back up there to finish off my 13th 4k round. conditions were pretty quick with enough snow to cover most of the ice up high. cold and a bit windy in spots, but skies cleared by the afternoon and we got some nice views from the tower on cannon. thanks to cynthia for a great hike.
bryan
[email protected]
