Larry T. and I started up the Dicey's Mill Trail around 9:45 on December 25. It was extremely windy, with a huge branch having fallen in the parking lot. If a car had been under it, the damage would have been tremendous.
After the "epic" by AndyF, Jim Lombard and some others a few days prior, the trail was in good condition. We were grateful they wore their snowshoes. A bit of snow had blown onto the trail, as had numerous branches large and small.
The normal rabbit tracks were seen aplenty. We also saw a print that looked like it was made by a cat. Five, what, I don't know the term, little finger prints, with a sixth behind them, at the front of each print.
The morning was warm, in the thirties, and sunny, and although the wind high overhead was blowing strongly, we didn't really feel it on the trail. We dropped our packs at the Rollins Trail junction and hightailed it up to Passaconaway. We were back at the junction around 2pm, and then started off towards Whiteface. The sun was tucked down behind the ridge at around 3pm, and with our remaining (indirect) sunlight, we made camp for the night somewhere around probably just short of a mile in.
It was extremely windy at night, with the winds roaring overhead, although, again, we didn't really feel them in camp. Fortunately I now have a smartphone, and the temps in Waterville Valley were reported to be 21 when we finished dinner and hit the tent, meaning it was somewhere in the teens up where we were. The winds continued until deep into the night, although they finally subsided by the morning.
We woke to wonderful sun and blue skies. Breaking trail up to Whiteface was a challenge, there's no denying it. At points the trail is very close to the face of ridge, and we could see the effects of the winds, as quite a bit of snow had been blown over the ridge, across the trail, and down into the bowl, at times meaning we were walking across bare ice--always at the steep parts, of course!
We saw bear tracks at one point, which was exciting.
Beautiful views south, all the way down to what I assume was Gunstock. It got cloudy, and we lost our sun, but still no winds and the clouds were high, so views were not impaired.
We reached the summit of Whiteface around noon. No other footprints, we broke trail until below the rocks. Going down from the cliffs was terrifying. There was wonderful snow most of the way, but at one point we were ice climbing, holding onto to trees for dear life.
Right below we encountered five folks with British accents who had barebooted up. They had brought crampons and we told them this was probably a good time for them to put them on.
About a half hour later we met two gents in snowshoes coming up, and they had mercifully left the trail after them in fairly nice condition. We told them about the ice, and I got the impression they were going to walk to the rock and then turn around. Finally, we met one older gentleman hiking alone with snowshoes on his pack, at this point about 1:30, with, gosh, an hour at least to the rocks and 45 minutes after that to the summit talking about intending to summit, and we explained the sun would be setting before he would have been able to get down from the ice--assuming he got up it in the first place.
The walk back down was easy, the trails getting softer as we descended, and we made it back to the parking lot without incident, having had a great backpack.
Met tons of folks in the parking lot. A father and a little girl were cross country skiing, a group of older folks had done Passaconaway, and some crews were cutting up the huge branch that had fallen.
Trails to both mountains should now be in good shape, but be advised that getting up to the top of Whiteface is trecherous at the moment, with some technical elements until more snow covers the rocks.
Brian
After the "epic" by AndyF, Jim Lombard and some others a few days prior, the trail was in good condition. We were grateful they wore their snowshoes. A bit of snow had blown onto the trail, as had numerous branches large and small.
The normal rabbit tracks were seen aplenty. We also saw a print that looked like it was made by a cat. Five, what, I don't know the term, little finger prints, with a sixth behind them, at the front of each print.
The morning was warm, in the thirties, and sunny, and although the wind high overhead was blowing strongly, we didn't really feel it on the trail. We dropped our packs at the Rollins Trail junction and hightailed it up to Passaconaway. We were back at the junction around 2pm, and then started off towards Whiteface. The sun was tucked down behind the ridge at around 3pm, and with our remaining (indirect) sunlight, we made camp for the night somewhere around probably just short of a mile in.
It was extremely windy at night, with the winds roaring overhead, although, again, we didn't really feel them in camp. Fortunately I now have a smartphone, and the temps in Waterville Valley were reported to be 21 when we finished dinner and hit the tent, meaning it was somewhere in the teens up where we were. The winds continued until deep into the night, although they finally subsided by the morning.
We woke to wonderful sun and blue skies. Breaking trail up to Whiteface was a challenge, there's no denying it. At points the trail is very close to the face of ridge, and we could see the effects of the winds, as quite a bit of snow had been blown over the ridge, across the trail, and down into the bowl, at times meaning we were walking across bare ice--always at the steep parts, of course!
We saw bear tracks at one point, which was exciting.
Beautiful views south, all the way down to what I assume was Gunstock. It got cloudy, and we lost our sun, but still no winds and the clouds were high, so views were not impaired.
We reached the summit of Whiteface around noon. No other footprints, we broke trail until below the rocks. Going down from the cliffs was terrifying. There was wonderful snow most of the way, but at one point we were ice climbing, holding onto to trees for dear life.
Right below we encountered five folks with British accents who had barebooted up. They had brought crampons and we told them this was probably a good time for them to put them on.
About a half hour later we met two gents in snowshoes coming up, and they had mercifully left the trail after them in fairly nice condition. We told them about the ice, and I got the impression they were going to walk to the rock and then turn around. Finally, we met one older gentleman hiking alone with snowshoes on his pack, at this point about 1:30, with, gosh, an hour at least to the rocks and 45 minutes after that to the summit talking about intending to summit, and we explained the sun would be setting before he would have been able to get down from the ice--assuming he got up it in the first place.
The walk back down was easy, the trails getting softer as we descended, and we made it back to the parking lot without incident, having had a great backpack.
Met tons of folks in the parking lot. A father and a little girl were cross country skiing, a group of older folks had done Passaconaway, and some crews were cutting up the huge branch that had fallen.
Trails to both mountains should now be in good shape, but be advised that getting up to the top of Whiteface is trecherous at the moment, with some technical elements until more snow covers the rocks.
Brian
