NH_Mtn_Hiker
New member
Warning: Long Trip Report
The day started off like most others, with the alarm going off at 4am. After getting dressed, checking the weather, and eating breakfast I headed North on I-93 arriving at the Lincoln-Woods parking area shortly before 6am. I started my hike at 5:55 under a starlit sky. I met another hiker near the parking area putting on his skis with the aid of his headlamp. He stated he was also headed to the Bonds. We played leapfrog down the Lincoln-Woods Trail (L-WT), every time one of us would stop the other would pass. The trail was well packed and snowshoes were not necessary, a good thing because I didn't bring mine. At 6:55 we reached the Wilderness boundary, he turned onto the Wilderness Trail and I continued on the Franconia Brook Trail (FBT).
Like the L-WT, the FBT had only a few inches of snow on it, though not as well packed. Still, post-holing was not a problem. Upon reaching the Lincoln Brook Trail (LBT) at 7:45 I took a small break then contined North. A few feet beyond the LBT a small pile of brush blocked the way as if to imply "Don't go this way". I walked around the brush pile and continued on. Along the way I passed deer, moose, mink, pine marten, and lots of little meeses tracks, but there were no human tracks in the few inches of snow that had fallen during the week. The brook crossings thus far were a little tricky due to icy rocks and thin ice. However, the beaver pond was easier than usual to cross. I reached Hellgate Brook at 8:15.
I won't go into much detail about the bushwhack from the FBT to the base of the slide on West Bond. There seems to be a general dislike on this forum for the sharing of bushwhack routes. If you need Hellgate route info, PM me and I'll tell you all you need to know. I'll say this much: Snow depth ranged from 2-30 inches...and I didn't bring my snowshoes, the brook crossings were easy and the views, excellent. With that said, I reached the base of the slide I was looking for at about 11:30.
About the slide. For those not familiar with West Bond and it's slides, if you look at the cover of the AMC WMG 27th edition, you'll see three slides on the side of the West Bond ridge (there is a fourth off the picture to the left, the South-East slide), the slide I climbed is the one on the right which comes up just below the rocky summit of West Bond.
I had lunch near the bottom of the slide at 3700', then I put on my 10pt. crampons, strapped my hiking pole to my pack, and took out my ice axe which is my new best friend and started up the snowy slide. Within a few hundred feet though the conditions changed, and kept changing the whole way up the slide. In some places there was 12 inches of snow covering the rocks, in other places there was solid ice with a dusting of snow on top, and in other places there was inch thick ice covering several inches of snow. I made my way carefully up the slide going around the vertical sections.
After going around one of the icy ledges about 6' high I proceded about 20' up the slide to the next ledge. This one was only about 18 inches high. I swung my axe into the icy slope above the ledge, comfortable with bite in the hard ice I kicked my left crampon's front points into the front of the ledge then lifted my right foot up onto the ledge...my left crampon came loose first, then the ice axe; before I knew it I was on my back in a half seated position sliding down the slide and I was accelerating. That 6' ledge was coming up quickly and I thought to myself, "this is gonna hurt". In desperation I swung the axe across my chest into the ice to my left. As the axe penetrating the thick ice into the snow beneath I tightened my grip. As my arm went taut I flipped onto my stomach and swung around beneath the axe with my feet downslope. I quickly pulled myself up onto the axe as I could feel nothing beneath my legs. There I lay for a few minutes thinking about the good advice I'd gotten from Frodo, dms, and HAMTERO...especially the advice about bringing an ice axe. The rest of the slide was uneventful, though I seemed to be climbing slower and more cautiously for some reason.
As I neared the top of the slide I began noticing how close the evergreens along the sides were to each other and wondered how difficult the bushwhack would be. Yes there would be a bushwhack, because there was no way I was going DOWN that slide. 20 feet or so from the top I saw an opening in the trees on the right and I said to myself, "that's my exit". Once well into the protection of the trees, I strapped my ice axe to my pack and made my way slowly towards the summit of West Bond. In some places where I couldn't move uphill I followed the contour north figuring I'd at least reach the spur trail...eventully. The slope in some places was upwards of 70 degrees, the going was very slow and by 2:00 I was nearly certain that I'd be spending the night on the Bonds. I began looking for places to spend the night or at least get some rest before proceding. One particular ledgy overhang about 10 feet long with no snow beneath it looked tempting. It offered excellent protection from the elements considering it's location. I noted it's location and slowly moved on. At 2:30 the hiking gods smiled upon me and I broke out of the shrubbery onto the spur trail just below the summit. The bushwhack from the FBT had taken 6 hrs, 15 min and it felt it. I was exhausted.
After taking some more pics from the summit I headed down the spur trail towards the Bondcliff Trail. The spur trail had 1-2 feet of soft snow with a few sets of snowshoe tracks on it. Did I mention I didn't bring my snowshoes? The Bondcliff Trail on the other hand had seen some strong winds and the snow was solidly wind packed in many places and even bare here and there. There were a few softer drifts on the north side of Mt. Bond, but nothing serious. I reached the summit of Mt. Bond at 3:25. After taking more pictures, I began the descent torwards Bondcliff. As I was leaving the summit a strong gust of wind nearly knocked me down. When I reached the exposed Bondcliff ridge the winds were back down to 15-25 mph which is what I'd experiened most of the day.
As I hiked towards Bondcliff there were strong gusts every several minutes. The deeper into the col I got the stronger the gusts became. After being knocked down a few times I decided to get down close to the ground when I heard the stronger gusts coming up out of HELLgate Ravine. This worked several times, then...I heard the gust coming up from the ravine. It was louder than the others. I knelt down close to a large rock and hugged it. The gust of wind hit me like a supersonic brick wall. It felt like someone was throwing large rocks at me except I was the one being thrown. I've been in winds of over 80 mph on Mt. Washington, I'll take a conservative guess that this gust was around 100 mph. After about 30 seconds the wind died down. I got up with my new aches and pains, nothing serious, and moved towards a rock outcrop to hide behind and removed my softshell from my pack and put it on...for padding. I also removed my crampons. The trail was ice with rocks sticking up out of it everywhere, I thought I could move faster if I were rock hopping bareboot instead.
During a lull in the wind I made my way up and across the summit of Bondcliff at 4:15 and then down past the little chimney and again, to the protection of the trees. Once below treeline I removed the softshell and proceded down the Bondcliff Trail towards the Wilderness Trail. This section of the Bondcliff trail had had numerous blowdowns removed earlier in the day, Thanks, unfortunately they left the head high "lean" downs. What a slap in the face to us hikers, huh. I made my way down the snowy, but well packed trail to the the Wilderness Trail as the moonless night enveloped me. In the last mile or two the snowy trail gave way to mixed mud and slush. I noticed a camper camped illegally at the junction of the Bondcliff and Wilderness Trail and I thought briefly about moving his campfire into his tent, but that would of required effort and I didn't have much of that left.
The last 4.5 miles out to my car seemed to go by fairly quickly, perhaps that was because my brain was no longer keeping track of time or maybe it was just shutting down. I don't remember getting to my car, but my notebook says I did so at 7:40pm.
And today.....I still feel like somebody was throwing rocks at me yesterday.
I usually just post a few pics, if any, from my hikes. This time I posted all of them. Those of you who like climbing slides will probably appreciate them. The rest of you will have to suffer looking through all 92 pics.
Edited to remove an unnecessary word.
The day started off like most others, with the alarm going off at 4am. After getting dressed, checking the weather, and eating breakfast I headed North on I-93 arriving at the Lincoln-Woods parking area shortly before 6am. I started my hike at 5:55 under a starlit sky. I met another hiker near the parking area putting on his skis with the aid of his headlamp. He stated he was also headed to the Bonds. We played leapfrog down the Lincoln-Woods Trail (L-WT), every time one of us would stop the other would pass. The trail was well packed and snowshoes were not necessary, a good thing because I didn't bring mine. At 6:55 we reached the Wilderness boundary, he turned onto the Wilderness Trail and I continued on the Franconia Brook Trail (FBT).
Like the L-WT, the FBT had only a few inches of snow on it, though not as well packed. Still, post-holing was not a problem. Upon reaching the Lincoln Brook Trail (LBT) at 7:45 I took a small break then contined North. A few feet beyond the LBT a small pile of brush blocked the way as if to imply "Don't go this way". I walked around the brush pile and continued on. Along the way I passed deer, moose, mink, pine marten, and lots of little meeses tracks, but there were no human tracks in the few inches of snow that had fallen during the week. The brook crossings thus far were a little tricky due to icy rocks and thin ice. However, the beaver pond was easier than usual to cross. I reached Hellgate Brook at 8:15.
I won't go into much detail about the bushwhack from the FBT to the base of the slide on West Bond. There seems to be a general dislike on this forum for the sharing of bushwhack routes. If you need Hellgate route info, PM me and I'll tell you all you need to know. I'll say this much: Snow depth ranged from 2-30 inches...and I didn't bring my snowshoes, the brook crossings were easy and the views, excellent. With that said, I reached the base of the slide I was looking for at about 11:30.
About the slide. For those not familiar with West Bond and it's slides, if you look at the cover of the AMC WMG 27th edition, you'll see three slides on the side of the West Bond ridge (there is a fourth off the picture to the left, the South-East slide), the slide I climbed is the one on the right which comes up just below the rocky summit of West Bond.
I had lunch near the bottom of the slide at 3700', then I put on my 10pt. crampons, strapped my hiking pole to my pack, and took out my ice axe which is my new best friend and started up the snowy slide. Within a few hundred feet though the conditions changed, and kept changing the whole way up the slide. In some places there was 12 inches of snow covering the rocks, in other places there was solid ice with a dusting of snow on top, and in other places there was inch thick ice covering several inches of snow. I made my way carefully up the slide going around the vertical sections.
After going around one of the icy ledges about 6' high I proceded about 20' up the slide to the next ledge. This one was only about 18 inches high. I swung my axe into the icy slope above the ledge, comfortable with bite in the hard ice I kicked my left crampon's front points into the front of the ledge then lifted my right foot up onto the ledge...my left crampon came loose first, then the ice axe; before I knew it I was on my back in a half seated position sliding down the slide and I was accelerating. That 6' ledge was coming up quickly and I thought to myself, "this is gonna hurt". In desperation I swung the axe across my chest into the ice to my left. As the axe penetrating the thick ice into the snow beneath I tightened my grip. As my arm went taut I flipped onto my stomach and swung around beneath the axe with my feet downslope. I quickly pulled myself up onto the axe as I could feel nothing beneath my legs. There I lay for a few minutes thinking about the good advice I'd gotten from Frodo, dms, and HAMTERO...especially the advice about bringing an ice axe. The rest of the slide was uneventful, though I seemed to be climbing slower and more cautiously for some reason.
As I neared the top of the slide I began noticing how close the evergreens along the sides were to each other and wondered how difficult the bushwhack would be. Yes there would be a bushwhack, because there was no way I was going DOWN that slide. 20 feet or so from the top I saw an opening in the trees on the right and I said to myself, "that's my exit". Once well into the protection of the trees, I strapped my ice axe to my pack and made my way slowly towards the summit of West Bond. In some places where I couldn't move uphill I followed the contour north figuring I'd at least reach the spur trail...eventully. The slope in some places was upwards of 70 degrees, the going was very slow and by 2:00 I was nearly certain that I'd be spending the night on the Bonds. I began looking for places to spend the night or at least get some rest before proceding. One particular ledgy overhang about 10 feet long with no snow beneath it looked tempting. It offered excellent protection from the elements considering it's location. I noted it's location and slowly moved on. At 2:30 the hiking gods smiled upon me and I broke out of the shrubbery onto the spur trail just below the summit. The bushwhack from the FBT had taken 6 hrs, 15 min and it felt it. I was exhausted.
After taking some more pics from the summit I headed down the spur trail towards the Bondcliff Trail. The spur trail had 1-2 feet of soft snow with a few sets of snowshoe tracks on it. Did I mention I didn't bring my snowshoes? The Bondcliff Trail on the other hand had seen some strong winds and the snow was solidly wind packed in many places and even bare here and there. There were a few softer drifts on the north side of Mt. Bond, but nothing serious. I reached the summit of Mt. Bond at 3:25. After taking more pictures, I began the descent torwards Bondcliff. As I was leaving the summit a strong gust of wind nearly knocked me down. When I reached the exposed Bondcliff ridge the winds were back down to 15-25 mph which is what I'd experiened most of the day.
As I hiked towards Bondcliff there were strong gusts every several minutes. The deeper into the col I got the stronger the gusts became. After being knocked down a few times I decided to get down close to the ground when I heard the stronger gusts coming up out of HELLgate Ravine. This worked several times, then...I heard the gust coming up from the ravine. It was louder than the others. I knelt down close to a large rock and hugged it.
The gust of wind hit me like a supersonic brick wall. It felt like someone was throwing large rocks at me except I was the one being thrown. I've been in winds of over 80 mph on Mt. Washington, I'll take a conservative guess that this gust was around 100 mph. After about 30 seconds the wind died down. I got up with my new aches and pains, nothing serious, and moved towards a rock outcrop to hide behind and removed my softshell from my pack and put it on...for padding. I also removed my crampons. The trail was ice with rocks sticking up out of it everywhere, I thought I could move faster if I were rock hopping bareboot instead.During a lull in the wind I made my way up and across the summit of Bondcliff at 4:15 and then down past the little chimney and again, to the protection of the trees. Once below treeline I removed the softshell and proceded down the Bondcliff Trail towards the Wilderness Trail. This section of the Bondcliff trail had had numerous blowdowns removed earlier in the day, Thanks, unfortunately they left the head high "lean" downs. What a slap in the face to us hikers, huh.
I made my way down the snowy, but well packed trail to the the Wilderness Trail as the moonless night enveloped me. In the last mile or two the snowy trail gave way to mixed mud and slush. I noticed a camper camped illegally at the junction of the Bondcliff and Wilderness Trail and I thought briefly about moving his campfire into his tent, but that would of required effort and I didn't have much of that left.The last 4.5 miles out to my car seemed to go by fairly quickly, perhaps that was because my brain was no longer keeping track of time or maybe it was just shutting down. I don't remember getting to my car, but my notebook says I did so at 7:40pm.
And today.....I still feel like somebody was throwing rocks at me yesterday.
I usually just post a few pics, if any, from my hikes. This time I posted all of them. Those of you who like climbing slides will probably appreciate them. The rest of you will have to suffer looking through all 92 pics.
Edited to remove an unnecessary word.
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