The Sikes
Member
What a beautiful day it was going to be to get the highest peak in NH! We took the Ammonoosuc Trail up. Snowshoes all the way as the snow was soft and there was lots of it. The water crossing was frozen over making the waterfall below very pretty.
We switched over to microspikes when we hit the Lake of the clouds Hut. (Crampons would have been better) The climb up Monroe, even though it is on .2 mile, was difficult. My son made it up but he said the last 1/4 was ice and sketchy. I couldn't go the way he did. I watched 2 other people get to that point and start sliding down the mountain. it was terrifying! One had full crampons on. I was worried about the way down. On the way down, I had Matthew hug the rocks which is they way I went. It was slow but we made it down safely.
Off to Washington. Microspikes were ok. There was lots of ice and we lost the cairns for a short bit but found them again. The summit was beautiful. Not too windy and the sun was warm. So enjoyable!
We took the Gulfside Trail to Jewel and headed down. The upper part of Jewel was a mess with lots of postholes and soft snow with spruce traps. We switched to snowshoes and made great time after that.
We switched over to microspikes when we hit the Lake of the clouds Hut. (Crampons would have been better) The climb up Monroe, even though it is on .2 mile, was difficult. My son made it up but he said the last 1/4 was ice and sketchy. I couldn't go the way he did. I watched 2 other people get to that point and start sliding down the mountain. it was terrifying! One had full crampons on. I was worried about the way down. On the way down, I had Matthew hug the rocks which is they way I went. It was slow but we made it down safely.
Off to Washington. Microspikes were ok. There was lots of ice and we lost the cairns for a short bit but found them again. The summit was beautiful. Not too windy and the sun was warm. So enjoyable!
We took the Gulfside Trail to Jewel and headed down. The upper part of Jewel was a mess with lots of postholes and soft snow with spruce traps. We switched to snowshoes and made great time after that.
