Trails Safe in Flood Situations

[erugs]

So it appears that trails with lots of water would be good to avoid in wet periods as we're in right now. What trails would you 'all recommend as viable options? Wanting to keep our friends on the trails as safe as possible.

 

[RoySwkr]

Moriah by either approach, Carters via 19MBT out & back

I would say that Stony Brk and Carter Dome Tr have iffy crossings

 

[bikehikeskifish]

19 Mile Brook was listed as "shin deep" earlier today...

Tim

 

[Ed'n Lauky]

Mt. Clinton trail up Pierce.
Carter Moriah Trail up Moriah
Starr King trail up Star King and Waumbec
KR trail up Cannon
Carriage Rd up Mooselauke
Valley Way up Madison, Adams
Polecat up Wildcat D
The Tripyramids from Livermore Rd and via Scaur Ridge trail (if you don't have a dog)
Hale via Fire Warden's trail

 

[carla]

I was thinking of skiing up to Zealand Hut, on Monday, but see this report below, from the AMC link at http://www.outdoors.org/recreation/t...ry-weather.cfm
So I can't quite tell--is the road still skiable, and just the trails impassable? I wonder how much snow we may get this weekend. Enough for me to ski up to the hut on Monday? Will be looking for any trail reports from Sat or Sun, of if anyone has some eyewitness account of conditions, please PM me or respond here.

Thank you!

Zealand area:

Impassable conditions to the hut. Due to stream crossing.
Access Road: Zealand road is closed to automobiles and open for skiing.
Best Bets: x
Trails: Trails are wet and slush with possibility of post holing. Use caution as it gets colder and begins to freeze. Traction and snow shoes are required.

 

[MichaelJ]

Carla,
Yesterday, when I looked at the Bretton Woods webcam, the big field in front of the Mt Washington Hotel was brown, so I'd assume that at least the bottom of Zealand Road right now is not skiable. Even if it's cold enough and everything refreezes and water levels drop, I wouldn't want to try to ski if there's not fresh snow from the weekend over what will be a whole lotta ice.

 

[MichaelJ]

Oh, hey, check this out ...

There are two different backcountry condition reports on the AMC website.

If you just search the AMC website for weather and conditions, you get this page:
www.outdoors.org/recreation/tripplanner/go/

Which right now for Carter Hut only mentions fog and rain! You have to click on one of the destinations to get the thorough report:
www.outdoors.org/recreation/tripplanner/go/backcountry-weather.cfm

So always make sure you're reading the more detailed one.

 

[carla]

Thanks Michael J! It's a bit frustrating to try to time any days off with good skiing condix this winter.

I had a nice (but very cold) ski jaunt at Waterville on groomed trails last weekend, and their conditions pages indicates that they are still open with enough snow, but I'm a bit skeptical.

 

[sardog1]

I would be quite skeptical. We had 54 degrees with driving rain the other day here on the Maine/NH border. There isn't enough snow in my yard for a snowball fight.

 

[MadRiver]

Thanks Michael J! It's a bit frustrating to try to time any days off with good skiing condix this winter.

I had a nice (but very cold) ski jaunt at Waterville on groomed trails last weekend, and their conditions pages indicates that they are still open with enough snow, but I'm a bit skeptical.

Carla, I can take a quick trip down to the north end (Livermore depot) and take a look for you if you want. My wife works in the Nordic Center on weekends and so far she is schedule to work tomorrow.

 

[MichaelJ]

Carla,
I see only 7 trails open, 17km out of 76km total.
But they might get snow this weekend, who can say???

http://www.waterville.com/nordic/nordic-conditions.html

 

[thegibba]

I would say old bridle path as an out and back to Lafayette or the hut would be safe. I would also consider Liberty springs trail. I don't remember any major/minor crossings there. Perhaps quite a bit of mud.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

I skied Livermore Road with my kids 2 weekends ago and it was just covered enough to use my good skis. It has to be rock skis until they get another good dump. The Director's Diary says they are still cat grooming in the north end, which means they have enough base to run the cat - they haven't cat-groomed the south end at all this year.

Tim

 

[DougPaul]

Carla,
I see only 7 trails open, 17km out of 76km total.
But they might get snow this weekend, who can say???

http://www.waterville.com/nordic/nordic-conditions.html

You left out a very important part of the report:
Kick wax: Universal Klister

Doug

 

[carla]

Thanks for all the help and info, folks! The Waterville trail report now says they have 39 K open, mostly their North End trails. see http://www.waterville.com/nordic/nordic-conditions.html

Not too bad, really. I'll see if there is any more snow over the weekend to fluff things up a bit.

Thanks again...

--Carla

 

[bikehikeskifish]

You left out a very important part of the report:
Kick wax: Universal Klister

I have found that kick wax slows me down too much so I don't use it

Tim

 

[RoySwkr]

I would also consider Liberty springs trail. I don't remember any major/minor crossings there.

At least one.

There are now fairly good albums of summits and leantos on the web, when will somebody do brook crossings?

 

[sierra]

I have used MT. Liberty as a training mountain and have rarely found the one major brook crossing to be too bad to cross. If I had to guess right now, I would say 99% that it would pose nothing more then a rock hop.

 

[DougPaul]

I have found that kick wax slows me down too much so I don't use it

Skate skiers (such as you...) may not use kick wax, but trad skiers do. And even if you are skate skiing or not skiing at all, knowing the kick wax can tell you a lot about the snow conditions.

For those who do not know trad XC waxes: universal klister says that the snow is wet, coarse grained, and/or icy.

Doug

 

[bikehikeskifish]

universal klister says that the snow is wet, coarse grained, and/or icy.

Universal klister says "leave the trad skis home and skate... because conditions will be pretty fast."

Tim