poison ivy
Well-known member
As Double Bow, Bob (minus Geri today,) Abster and I checked the forecast for Sunday, which called for clear skies but high winds of up to 70 miles per hour, I wondered whether our plan to hike Pierce & Eisenhower was a good idea. However, Bob joked the higher summit forecast didn’t apply to Ike and we should head out anyway. At the very least we decided to hike up Pierce and see how the weather turned out from there. It was 14 degrees as we headed out from the cabin to the trailhead.
We pulled into the parking lot for the Crawford Path at 8:30 a.m. and headed up the connector path to start our fantastic day of hiking. Although it snowed in Bethlehem overnight, we found that the Crawford Path had only received a dusting of snow. The thin cover over an icy sheet of snow had Abster & Double Bow putting on their crampons at the wooden bridge over Gibbs Brook. Bob and I found the conditions not terribly treacherous and decided to bareboot. The first order of the day was a stop at Gibbs Falls -- which was very pretty but running strong. It was funny to see it running -- last January it was completely frozen over.
From there, the trail is fairly gentle and except for a few stops to adjust layers and crampons, we moved along pretty steadily. The sunshine was starting to poke through the trees as we ascended up to the cut-off for Mizpah Hut and we all knew we were in for a spectacular day above treeline. Just after passing the cutoff, we crossed paths with Mtnpa, who was on his way down after a morning summit of Pierce. He said conditions were great but icy before heading down to meet Mtnmama for lunch.
We carried on at our own paces and regrouped in the middle of the final tunnel of trees. I put on my crampons, anticipating that the final tenth of a mile up Pierce would be really icy. We all added layers, shells, balaclavas and goggles as we prepared to greet the wind head-on. About 10 steps later, we emerged out of the trees to see an incredible view of white-capped Eisenhower and Washington… and knew that this was going to be a fabulous day for a walk above treeline.
The brief walk to the summit of 4,310 ft. Pierce was indeed very icy -- Bob managed to hike up without crampons but I was glad to have them. Pierce was Abster’s final Presidential peak and a new winter one for Double Bow, but Bob & I had both hiked it in winter previously. Pictures cannot do the views justice-- the Presidentials were just glowing white in the sun and we stood there for a few minutes to take it all in.
The wind I had worried about so much wasn’t too bad -- it was blowing about 20 miles and hour. A bit chilly but nothing too difficult to contend with, so we took our first steps across the ridge toward Eisenhower. It actually was quite warm in the sun, but any time the scrub trees weren’t blocking our westerly view the wind would really bite into your cheeks. We could see two tiny figures heading up Eisenhower ahead of us and followed in their footsteps.
While we had carried snowshoes in case there were drifts on the ridge, they were not necessary as the snow cover was very thin. Bob quickly stopped to add his crampons after finding much of the route was covered with a thick coating of ice. We stopped for a lunch break in sheltered spot in the col between the two peaks before beginning the ascent to the Eisenhower loop trail. The trip up actually went much quicker than I thought it would -- despite turning around to enjoy the views over Pierce’s shoulder about a hundred times.
As we headed up the final steep pitch on the Eisenhower loop trail, we crossed paths with the two hikers we saw earlier heading down and stopped to chat for a bit. There was one section of the ascent that was a little complicated because the rocks were bare, but the rest went fairly easily. We found ourselves at the giant cairn on the summit -- which seemed taller and skinnier than I remembered it. We only stayed on Eisenhower for about 10 minutes -- the winds were blowing a bit harder up there and we cooled off quickly. Ike was my 25th winter peak and I couldn’t have asked for a better day or better companions with whom to share it. The views were absolutely spectacular.
We turned back the way we came and soon were crossing paths with a number of other hikers out enjoying a great day to be above treeline. We stopped for another break in the col before heading up our final ascent of Pierce. It went fairly well but I was finding that I was getting a little tired so I took it slow. My knees were pounding, probably from yesterday’s skiing. As we reached treeline, we stopped to take off layers and crampons for the final walk down to the car, which we reached at 3:30 p.m.
Pictures from this gorgeous day are here.
- Ivy
We pulled into the parking lot for the Crawford Path at 8:30 a.m. and headed up the connector path to start our fantastic day of hiking. Although it snowed in Bethlehem overnight, we found that the Crawford Path had only received a dusting of snow. The thin cover over an icy sheet of snow had Abster & Double Bow putting on their crampons at the wooden bridge over Gibbs Brook. Bob and I found the conditions not terribly treacherous and decided to bareboot. The first order of the day was a stop at Gibbs Falls -- which was very pretty but running strong. It was funny to see it running -- last January it was completely frozen over.
From there, the trail is fairly gentle and except for a few stops to adjust layers and crampons, we moved along pretty steadily. The sunshine was starting to poke through the trees as we ascended up to the cut-off for Mizpah Hut and we all knew we were in for a spectacular day above treeline. Just after passing the cutoff, we crossed paths with Mtnpa, who was on his way down after a morning summit of Pierce. He said conditions were great but icy before heading down to meet Mtnmama for lunch.
We carried on at our own paces and regrouped in the middle of the final tunnel of trees. I put on my crampons, anticipating that the final tenth of a mile up Pierce would be really icy. We all added layers, shells, balaclavas and goggles as we prepared to greet the wind head-on. About 10 steps later, we emerged out of the trees to see an incredible view of white-capped Eisenhower and Washington… and knew that this was going to be a fabulous day for a walk above treeline.
The brief walk to the summit of 4,310 ft. Pierce was indeed very icy -- Bob managed to hike up without crampons but I was glad to have them. Pierce was Abster’s final Presidential peak and a new winter one for Double Bow, but Bob & I had both hiked it in winter previously. Pictures cannot do the views justice-- the Presidentials were just glowing white in the sun and we stood there for a few minutes to take it all in.
The wind I had worried about so much wasn’t too bad -- it was blowing about 20 miles and hour. A bit chilly but nothing too difficult to contend with, so we took our first steps across the ridge toward Eisenhower. It actually was quite warm in the sun, but any time the scrub trees weren’t blocking our westerly view the wind would really bite into your cheeks. We could see two tiny figures heading up Eisenhower ahead of us and followed in their footsteps.
While we had carried snowshoes in case there were drifts on the ridge, they were not necessary as the snow cover was very thin. Bob quickly stopped to add his crampons after finding much of the route was covered with a thick coating of ice. We stopped for a lunch break in sheltered spot in the col between the two peaks before beginning the ascent to the Eisenhower loop trail. The trip up actually went much quicker than I thought it would -- despite turning around to enjoy the views over Pierce’s shoulder about a hundred times.
As we headed up the final steep pitch on the Eisenhower loop trail, we crossed paths with the two hikers we saw earlier heading down and stopped to chat for a bit. There was one section of the ascent that was a little complicated because the rocks were bare, but the rest went fairly easily. We found ourselves at the giant cairn on the summit -- which seemed taller and skinnier than I remembered it. We only stayed on Eisenhower for about 10 minutes -- the winds were blowing a bit harder up there and we cooled off quickly. Ike was my 25th winter peak and I couldn’t have asked for a better day or better companions with whom to share it. The views were absolutely spectacular.
We turned back the way we came and soon were crossing paths with a number of other hikers out enjoying a great day to be above treeline. We stopped for another break in the col before heading up our final ascent of Pierce. It went fairly well but I was finding that I was getting a little tired so I took it slow. My knees were pounding, probably from yesterday’s skiing. As we reached treeline, we stopped to take off layers and crampons for the final walk down to the car, which we reached at 3:30 p.m.
Pictures from this gorgeous day are here.
- Ivy
I passed many groups small and large coming up the bottom part of the trail. I got back to the Mountain House in time for morning coffee break.
