South Carter, Sunday 19th Dec '05

Orsonab · Dec 19, 2005

Oh my, what a day. Gorgeous sunny weather and a new blanket of snow promised a great day ahead as we headed up 19-mile Brook trail. Foot traffic up to Carter hut meant that the trail was just packed powder despite the 12+" of snow the area got on Friday. We all bare-booted up to the Carter Dome trail junction in good time. And then the fun started... Carter Dome trail had been semi-broken out by one brave soul (hello, Jerry!) ahead of us and for a while we were doing well. About a third of the way up the trail, however, the blowdowns started and went on and on and on. I have never crawled on my belly in snow since a certain Hogmanay party in Scotland a long time ago. Coordinating body, backpack and clown-feet snowshoes around these snag-traps was both exhausting and very time-consuming. On the way back down we actually bothered to count the blowdowns - 59! That's right - 59!!!And that's an under-estimate. By the time we reached the junction with Carter-Moriah ("It can't be far off, can it?"), we were fewer in number and knackered (technical term). All we had to do now was a quick jaunt north to the South Carter summit. Of course, by this point the snow was 18" deep and not broken out at all. Took us about 1 1/4 hrs to go the 1/2 mile to the summit. But what views! Oh wait, S. Carter has no views. Though Rebecca just needed Middle Carter to complete her 48, we knew the sun was setting fast and all the trails ahead of us were unbroken. So we turned 'round. As always, going down seemed a lot easier than uphill (even the blowdowns) and we eventually got back to the trailhead 9 1/2 hrs after setting off.
So be warned - Carter Dome trail is a monster and with more snow will become even more of an obstacle course. Did anybody climb Imp or North Carter trail this weekend? Wondering if they are equally blowdown strewn...