poison ivy
Well-known member
HikerBob and I had put together plans to attempt the Carters, with a backup possibility of hiking Mt. Washington & Monroe if the weather was really good. With forecasts of winds up between 60 to 80 mph on the higher summits, I thought that the Carters would probably be our goal. However, as we met in the Zealand parking lot Saturday we were both tempted by the forecasts for a clear, beautiful day and decided to head up Monroe and decide whether the winds were too terrible to continue once we reached treeline.
We drove over to Marshfield Station and were headed up the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail at 7:30 a.m. for what would become an interesting day above treeline. I had never hiked Ammo before and found it to be a terrific little trail -- covered with three or four inches of powdery snow, just enough to bareboot to treeline. I always enjoy walking along a river bank and listening to the rushing water pour over rocks, which it does for the first mile or so from the parking lot. We had occasional glimpses through the trees of blue skies and sunshine dawning over the ridge and thought we had picked a perfect day to hike Washington.
After crossing over the mostly frozen Gem Pool, we began the steep mile ascent up to Lakes of the Clouds hut. Several other hikers passed us along the way and most said they had similar plans -- to hit Monroe and decide whether to continue on from there. I noticed some small whispy clouds just whipping over the ridge and realized that the forecast for high winds was likely pretty accurate.
Just shy of treeline, we opted to put on our crampons after coming to a small but steep icy pitch. I really like climbing right up the ice but HikerBob followed the tracks of others around most of them. I could tell I was making him nervous with my bits of ice climbing, so I stuck to the snowier parts of the trail for the rest of the ascent. As we popped out above treeline, dark gray clouds began blowing in from the west and blanketing Mt. Washington. We wouldn’t see the summit framed by blue skies again until we descended below treeline.
As we approached Lakes of the Clouds hut, we were hit with the wind, which I’d say was about 30 to 35 mph as it soared around the building. We headed into the dungeon and discussed our plans. While HikerBob, who has hiked both Washington & Monroe in winter before, wanted to save his energy for Washington, I wanted to head up Monroe first. My reasoning was that I’d get a chance to see what the winds were like on the summit and then everything after Washington’s summit would be downhill. So, Bob decided to have lunch while I grabbed my ice axe and set off to join the half dozen other hikers heading the .3 up Monroe.
The trip up was not as steep as I remembered and I found myself up on top fairly quickly. While there was an occasional gust of wind that caused me to wobble with my footing, I found the wind to be pretty warm. Washington was in the clouds but. Monroe was surrounded by blue sky. I had the summit to myself for the two minutes I lingered up there and then headed back down to the hut to join Bob.
While quickly eating lunch, I told Bob that I wasn’t particularly confident we’d made it up Washington, especially if the winds got any worse, but I was willing to try. Several other of the Monroe hikers also set off for Washington just ahead of us and we could see them moving slowly up the ridge. We gathered our gear and set off along the 1.5 miles to Washington.
As we crossed the first snowfields, HikerBob noticed that he was getting a bit ahead of me and began to worry. I was starting to feel tired, probably due to getting up at 3 a.m. (I have been absolutely spoiled this winter by Bob&Geri, who have had me at their cabin for so many weekends… this was one weekend I opted to stay home instead.) Bob asked me about three hundred times whether I was okay and wanted to continue… until I threatened to use my ice axe for more than hiking if he kept asking.
I figured as long as the pace was slow and I wasn’t feeling cold, I didn’t mind continuing.
The wind was definitely growing stronger as we picked our way from cairn to cairn. Looking back, we could see Monroe was still in the sunshine and shining like a beacon behind us. Knee-high clouds of spindrift were blowing across the summit but the wind was coming from the northwest, and it was mainly at our sides so it didn’t present much of a problem while hiking.
Visibility began to sink as we approached the summit cone and we found ourselves in a spot with two to three feet of drifted snow -- it was a bear to walk in this section. We pushed through, following small poles flagged with orange tape since the cairns were pretty buried. Above the thick snow, we were at the base of the cone and the wind was at our backs, just shoving us up to the summit.
At the summit, it was hard to see anything and the winds were both roaring and strong enough to knock us over. At times, we just had to battle to stand up against them. We ran up to the summit rock pile and I held onto the sign as HikerBob took a quick picture. We changed places to take his summit picture and then hurried back to the trail. On the way, we saw a couple of hikers in the parking lot who had come up the east side of the mountain, but the wind was too high for chatting so we waved and hurried on.
The first tenth of a mile heading down Washington was the worst because the wind and blowing snow was directly in our faces. We hunkered down as much as possible and made it to the junction for the Crawford Path. The wind had definitely picked up and as we made our way back to Lakes of the Clouds, blowing snow was obscuring our path. Luckily, the cairns are very close together and we could see about four or five even in the worst of the snow. The wind was tough to deal with -- when I was walking on ice my crampons would bite in and keep my footing even in the worst gusts. However, the minute I hit bare rock, the winds would bowl me over. HikerBob said it looked like I was drunk because I fell over so much… I was getting quite frustrated and was relieved when we finally reached the hut. I told Bob that Washington is probably my least favorite mountain but that I was glad to have hiked it in winter, even though conditions were not really optimal.
We stopped for a minute at the hut and HikerBob decided that he wouldn’t bother with Monroe before we headed back down the Ammo. Of course, the sun was just blazing on the snow as we headed down the trail and it the summits began to clear of clouds. We used crampons until about treeline and then I took mine off to do a few sitting glissades on the remaining steep sections. We made it back down to Marshfield Station at about 4:30 p.m. and headed over to the Mooseland Grill for dinner, where we bumped into Big Earl & Unfrozen Caveman.
Monroe & Washington were winter peaks # 26 & 27 for me. Thanks to HikerBob for letting me talk him into hiking peaks that he has already done in winter.
Pictures from the hike can be found here.
- Ivy
We drove over to Marshfield Station and were headed up the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail at 7:30 a.m. for what would become an interesting day above treeline. I had never hiked Ammo before and found it to be a terrific little trail -- covered with three or four inches of powdery snow, just enough to bareboot to treeline. I always enjoy walking along a river bank and listening to the rushing water pour over rocks, which it does for the first mile or so from the parking lot. We had occasional glimpses through the trees of blue skies and sunshine dawning over the ridge and thought we had picked a perfect day to hike Washington.
After crossing over the mostly frozen Gem Pool, we began the steep mile ascent up to Lakes of the Clouds hut. Several other hikers passed us along the way and most said they had similar plans -- to hit Monroe and decide whether to continue on from there. I noticed some small whispy clouds just whipping over the ridge and realized that the forecast for high winds was likely pretty accurate.
Just shy of treeline, we opted to put on our crampons after coming to a small but steep icy pitch. I really like climbing right up the ice but HikerBob followed the tracks of others around most of them. I could tell I was making him nervous with my bits of ice climbing, so I stuck to the snowier parts of the trail for the rest of the ascent. As we popped out above treeline, dark gray clouds began blowing in from the west and blanketing Mt. Washington. We wouldn’t see the summit framed by blue skies again until we descended below treeline.
As we approached Lakes of the Clouds hut, we were hit with the wind, which I’d say was about 30 to 35 mph as it soared around the building. We headed into the dungeon and discussed our plans. While HikerBob, who has hiked both Washington & Monroe in winter before, wanted to save his energy for Washington, I wanted to head up Monroe first. My reasoning was that I’d get a chance to see what the winds were like on the summit and then everything after Washington’s summit would be downhill. So, Bob decided to have lunch while I grabbed my ice axe and set off to join the half dozen other hikers heading the .3 up Monroe.
The trip up was not as steep as I remembered and I found myself up on top fairly quickly. While there was an occasional gust of wind that caused me to wobble with my footing, I found the wind to be pretty warm. Washington was in the clouds but. Monroe was surrounded by blue sky. I had the summit to myself for the two minutes I lingered up there and then headed back down to the hut to join Bob.
While quickly eating lunch, I told Bob that I wasn’t particularly confident we’d made it up Washington, especially if the winds got any worse, but I was willing to try. Several other of the Monroe hikers also set off for Washington just ahead of us and we could see them moving slowly up the ridge. We gathered our gear and set off along the 1.5 miles to Washington.
As we crossed the first snowfields, HikerBob noticed that he was getting a bit ahead of me and began to worry. I was starting to feel tired, probably due to getting up at 3 a.m. (I have been absolutely spoiled this winter by Bob&Geri, who have had me at their cabin for so many weekends… this was one weekend I opted to stay home instead.) Bob asked me about three hundred times whether I was okay and wanted to continue… until I threatened to use my ice axe for more than hiking if he kept asking.
I figured as long as the pace was slow and I wasn’t feeling cold, I didn’t mind continuing.The wind was definitely growing stronger as we picked our way from cairn to cairn. Looking back, we could see Monroe was still in the sunshine and shining like a beacon behind us. Knee-high clouds of spindrift were blowing across the summit but the wind was coming from the northwest, and it was mainly at our sides so it didn’t present much of a problem while hiking.
Visibility began to sink as we approached the summit cone and we found ourselves in a spot with two to three feet of drifted snow -- it was a bear to walk in this section. We pushed through, following small poles flagged with orange tape since the cairns were pretty buried. Above the thick snow, we were at the base of the cone and the wind was at our backs, just shoving us up to the summit.
At the summit, it was hard to see anything and the winds were both roaring and strong enough to knock us over. At times, we just had to battle to stand up against them. We ran up to the summit rock pile and I held onto the sign as HikerBob took a quick picture. We changed places to take his summit picture and then hurried back to the trail. On the way, we saw a couple of hikers in the parking lot who had come up the east side of the mountain, but the wind was too high for chatting so we waved and hurried on.
The first tenth of a mile heading down Washington was the worst because the wind and blowing snow was directly in our faces. We hunkered down as much as possible and made it to the junction for the Crawford Path. The wind had definitely picked up and as we made our way back to Lakes of the Clouds, blowing snow was obscuring our path. Luckily, the cairns are very close together and we could see about four or five even in the worst of the snow. The wind was tough to deal with -- when I was walking on ice my crampons would bite in and keep my footing even in the worst gusts. However, the minute I hit bare rock, the winds would bowl me over. HikerBob said it looked like I was drunk because I fell over so much… I was getting quite frustrated and was relieved when we finally reached the hut. I told Bob that Washington is probably my least favorite mountain but that I was glad to have hiked it in winter, even though conditions were not really optimal.
We stopped for a minute at the hut and HikerBob decided that he wouldn’t bother with Monroe before we headed back down the Ammo. Of course, the sun was just blazing on the snow as we headed down the trail and it the summits began to clear of clouds. We used crampons until about treeline and then I took mine off to do a few sitting glissades on the remaining steep sections. We made it back down to Marshfield Station at about 4:30 p.m. and headed over to the Mooseland Grill for dinner, where we bumped into Big Earl & Unfrozen Caveman.
Monroe & Washington were winter peaks # 26 & 27 for me. Thanks to HikerBob for letting me talk him into hiking peaks that he has already done in winter.
Pictures from the hike can be found here.
- Ivy
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