Bombadil
Active member
3-13-13
Old Speck:
Headed up from Grafton Notch in snowshoes. Wet mushy snow below 2500 ft but above that it was all super firm frozen wet snow. I kept the snowshoes on until the summit but probably could have ascended in microspikes. The latch on the door at the top of the firetower was frozen solid which made it a little tight for getting photos. Wore microspikes on the way down and usually penetrated 1/2 boot depth until down low in the wet snow where it was a bit more variable.
Elephant:
Parked in the plowed clearing on South Arm Rd. Took an interesting route that wound up being pretty quick and direct (3.5h). I initially took the snowmobile path and when it took the initial sharp left hand turn to begin the long switchback I continued straight uphill parallel to the river on an old woods road that eventually became an old blue blazed trail. It was sidesloped a bit so I got above it and continued in a direct line to the old parking area and began climbing and wound up coming back out onto the snowmobile path. Even with the trailbreaking it was probably a good 20 minutes faster than the road approach the whole way (I took it on the way back in the dark to check the difference).
I started out on the usual bushwhack and saw Umsaskis's tracks heading up the way I had planned to go based on my gps track from a few years ago--angling up to the saddle to the north before heading SW to the summit. But then I took a gamble when I saw a rising snowfield off to the my left and took that which connected to another and another. Eventually my luck ran out and I had to push through 50 feet of thick branches but popped out into relatively open woods. I continued uphill running parallel to my previous route but a bit more direct to the summit (a bit more West) and even though I went walking through spruce minefields with the hard freeze there was little risk of falling in. At a couple of critical points where I popped out of thick stuff I had to jump up and down to make a mark in the snow so I could see the turn, an excellent problem to have. I still hit a number of spruce traps but with the freeze you could backtrack and ascend 2 feet away from your hole and be fine. All in all excellent fast, firm conditions out there right now. What a difference a day makes.
Pat
pcushing21 at yahoo dot com
Old Speck:
Headed up from Grafton Notch in snowshoes. Wet mushy snow below 2500 ft but above that it was all super firm frozen wet snow. I kept the snowshoes on until the summit but probably could have ascended in microspikes. The latch on the door at the top of the firetower was frozen solid which made it a little tight for getting photos. Wore microspikes on the way down and usually penetrated 1/2 boot depth until down low in the wet snow where it was a bit more variable.
Elephant:
Parked in the plowed clearing on South Arm Rd. Took an interesting route that wound up being pretty quick and direct (3.5h). I initially took the snowmobile path and when it took the initial sharp left hand turn to begin the long switchback I continued straight uphill parallel to the river on an old woods road that eventually became an old blue blazed trail. It was sidesloped a bit so I got above it and continued in a direct line to the old parking area and began climbing and wound up coming back out onto the snowmobile path. Even with the trailbreaking it was probably a good 20 minutes faster than the road approach the whole way (I took it on the way back in the dark to check the difference).
I started out on the usual bushwhack and saw Umsaskis's tracks heading up the way I had planned to go based on my gps track from a few years ago--angling up to the saddle to the north before heading SW to the summit. But then I took a gamble when I saw a rising snowfield off to the my left and took that which connected to another and another. Eventually my luck ran out and I had to push through 50 feet of thick branches but popped out into relatively open woods. I continued uphill running parallel to my previous route but a bit more direct to the summit (a bit more West) and even though I went walking through spruce minefields with the hard freeze there was little risk of falling in. At a couple of critical points where I popped out of thick stuff I had to jump up and down to make a mark in the snow so I could see the turn, an excellent problem to have. I still hit a number of spruce traps but with the freeze you could backtrack and ascend 2 feet away from your hole and be fine. All in all excellent fast, firm conditions out there right now. What a difference a day makes.
Pat
pcushing21 at yahoo dot com
