C
Colin
Guest
Date of Hike: 2/19
Temps just around freezing during the day.
Mink hollow trail took a real beating in Irene. Would be OK bareboot up to the lean-to, but a few spots where even with thin snow, microspikes made it much easier to get a safe footing. Some climbing over rough sections and a couple dicey water crossings.
Light snow and ice up to about 2800 feet; above that, consistent 4-6 inches of snow but a lot of foot traffic. By 3000 feet on ascent up Sugarloaf along devil's path, very slick sheets of ice under the snow made it extremely challenging with microspikes. It was frequently impossible to kick into the ice to get a good toe hold. Between ~3000-3200 feet three short sections were simply not passable and required detouring off trail to get around some sheets of slick ice. We only made it to the peak thanks to a few inches of sticky fresh snow that made a couple detours possible and helped our traction quite a bit at some points. But I would not count on that snow lasting long. Especially on the steep sections where the ice was getting exposed quickly. I would not at all consider doing this trail alone.
We saw a pair going up in microspikes also finding them to be marginal for the conditions; another couple bareboot turned around just past the mink hollow lean-to.
I would concur with the previous user with similar comments - crampons and ice axe would have made it a lot better I'm sure. Wish I had caught that review this morning before heading up!
Temps just around freezing during the day.
Mink hollow trail took a real beating in Irene. Would be OK bareboot up to the lean-to, but a few spots where even with thin snow, microspikes made it much easier to get a safe footing. Some climbing over rough sections and a couple dicey water crossings.
Light snow and ice up to about 2800 feet; above that, consistent 4-6 inches of snow but a lot of foot traffic. By 3000 feet on ascent up Sugarloaf along devil's path, very slick sheets of ice under the snow made it extremely challenging with microspikes. It was frequently impossible to kick into the ice to get a good toe hold. Between ~3000-3200 feet three short sections were simply not passable and required detouring off trail to get around some sheets of slick ice. We only made it to the peak thanks to a few inches of sticky fresh snow that made a couple detours possible and helped our traction quite a bit at some points. But I would not count on that snow lasting long. Especially on the steep sections where the ice was getting exposed quickly. I would not at all consider doing this trail alone.
We saw a pair going up in microspikes also finding them to be marginal for the conditions; another couple bareboot turned around just past the mink hollow lean-to.
I would concur with the previous user with similar comments - crampons and ice axe would have made it a lot better I'm sure. Wish I had caught that review this morning before heading up!
