Jim lombard
New member
3:40am and the alarm buzzer goes off, I look out the big windows at the stars shining brightly and am excited and full of hope for the day ahead. It's 22 degrees in Sandown but forecasts look incredible (for February 6th.) The sky is brilliant in the pitch black of the Southern NH woods and Polaris leads the way in my journey north. On Friday in my cubicle I read several trip reports with envy, had to go to a funeral on Saturday and was determined to get away on Sunday.
Steve was itching to get up north again so we made plans to meet at Crawford notch. The driving was easy, boring yes but when I'm heading north a kind of excitement builds up in me.....it doesn't matter how many times I make the trip, does that happen to anybody else? By 6:15 I was at Highland, in my older and wiser years I have learned that changing in a large warm room is much better than in my cramped car or the parking lot. Steve is there as promised at 6:30, we'd spot a car in the notch and I'd drive north to Base road.
We park in the lower lot and trudge up to the main building. There were only two people in the place......both seemed to be cooking for the expected skiers to come. A woman says yes we can park there and yes it will cost us $10. She reports that they've just raised the price because Lowes store in the East has upped their fee to $10........two years ago when I parked there I swear it was $1.
Ammo is the usual stuff, I've been up it a dozen times, we put crampons on at Gem and made pretty good time up the ravine. Above the arrow sign was an amazing ice flow that with the help of the sun rising over the ridge cast the most amazing blue colors. There was already melted water running over the top of it though it was only 9am or so. I love the Ammonusuc ravine in morning and coming out of the shadows and into the sun.
Last February we'd made the trip and it was also sunny down here a half mile below the hut, really quite comfortable. But the clouds obscurred Washington and the winds could be heard howling high overhead. Not a cloud in the sky today and soon we were hiking in t-shirts, no gloves. There are a couple of very slick spots below the hut that require crampons, we had no trouble and were at the hut looking at the beautiful panorama and basking in the sun. I had seen SkiMom's photo from this point.....I took a few pictures as well (will post tomorrow.)
The sky was a pure deep blue without a breath of wind. One year ago at this point we were battling 40-50mph winds with weather deterorating so that Monroe was even disappearing from view. Back then we trudged on towards Monroe and as we climbed higher the wind increased in strength. Steve had turned back about 1/4 mile from the hut and I continued on to the point where I could no longer move forward without the wind knocking me down...I turned back too. Fast forward to Feb 6th 2005, I silently noted the point where I had turned back. A ribbon of ice made a pleasant crunch as our crampons bit in. But up on the summit ridge it was all bare rock and even some mud.
We decided to continue on, down over Monroe, over the rough bare rocks and down to Crawford path. Crawford itself was a mix of hard snow, ice, mud and bare rocks. I've never done a winter hike where the going was so easy and I felt so good. Over Franklins hump and down into the col we went, and then paused for just a moment before taking the rocky icy mix that was the north side of Eisenhower's loop. A little bit windier on the summit, the huge cairn that was there when I visited the summit last is gone, just a jumble of rocks all spread out with a metal rusty sign.
The rest of the hike down and over to Pierce was a joy.....the whole day had seemed miraculous, rolled up shirt sleeves, sunglasses, warm sunshine, no winds......I can't describe the feelings, you had to be there. We only saw 3 others all day to the summit of Pierce.....a couple were there sitting and eating lunch while Gray Jays hoped for an opportunity. I was hoping to see Kevin and Brutus as they made their traverse over Washington and south but I also wanted to see the kickoff so we ran down Crawford path. You don't get days like this very often.......
Steve was itching to get up north again so we made plans to meet at Crawford notch. The driving was easy, boring yes but when I'm heading north a kind of excitement builds up in me.....it doesn't matter how many times I make the trip, does that happen to anybody else? By 6:15 I was at Highland, in my older and wiser years I have learned that changing in a large warm room is much better than in my cramped car or the parking lot. Steve is there as promised at 6:30, we'd spot a car in the notch and I'd drive north to Base road.
We park in the lower lot and trudge up to the main building. There were only two people in the place......both seemed to be cooking for the expected skiers to come. A woman says yes we can park there and yes it will cost us $10. She reports that they've just raised the price because Lowes store in the East has upped their fee to $10........two years ago when I parked there I swear it was $1.
Ammo is the usual stuff, I've been up it a dozen times, we put crampons on at Gem and made pretty good time up the ravine. Above the arrow sign was an amazing ice flow that with the help of the sun rising over the ridge cast the most amazing blue colors. There was already melted water running over the top of it though it was only 9am or so. I love the Ammonusuc ravine in morning and coming out of the shadows and into the sun.
Last February we'd made the trip and it was also sunny down here a half mile below the hut, really quite comfortable. But the clouds obscurred Washington and the winds could be heard howling high overhead. Not a cloud in the sky today and soon we were hiking in t-shirts, no gloves. There are a couple of very slick spots below the hut that require crampons, we had no trouble and were at the hut looking at the beautiful panorama and basking in the sun. I had seen SkiMom's photo from this point.....I took a few pictures as well (will post tomorrow.)
The sky was a pure deep blue without a breath of wind. One year ago at this point we were battling 40-50mph winds with weather deterorating so that Monroe was even disappearing from view. Back then we trudged on towards Monroe and as we climbed higher the wind increased in strength. Steve had turned back about 1/4 mile from the hut and I continued on to the point where I could no longer move forward without the wind knocking me down...I turned back too. Fast forward to Feb 6th 2005, I silently noted the point where I had turned back. A ribbon of ice made a pleasant crunch as our crampons bit in. But up on the summit ridge it was all bare rock and even some mud.
We decided to continue on, down over Monroe, over the rough bare rocks and down to Crawford path. Crawford itself was a mix of hard snow, ice, mud and bare rocks. I've never done a winter hike where the going was so easy and I felt so good. Over Franklins hump and down into the col we went, and then paused for just a moment before taking the rocky icy mix that was the north side of Eisenhower's loop. A little bit windier on the summit, the huge cairn that was there when I visited the summit last is gone, just a jumble of rocks all spread out with a metal rusty sign.
The rest of the hike down and over to Pierce was a joy.....the whole day had seemed miraculous, rolled up shirt sleeves, sunglasses, warm sunshine, no winds......I can't describe the feelings, you had to be there. We only saw 3 others all day to the summit of Pierce.....a couple were there sitting and eating lunch while Gray Jays hoped for an opportunity. I was hoping to see Kevin and Brutus as they made their traverse over Washington and south but I also wanted to see the kickoff so we ran down Crawford path. You don't get days like this very often.......
Last edited:
