LRiz
New member
The Cats, the Carters, potentially Moriah - It was a hike that we'd been planning for quite a long while... and after postponing it for weeks, this past Saturday Cath, Drew, Eric and I decided to venture over to Pinkham Notch and give it a shot.
Our journey began with a car spot... well, four car spots, to be precise: Carter-Moriah, Stony Brook, Nineteen Mile, and the Wildcat Ski Area - plenty of opportunities for potential bailouts. Upon readying our gear (to the bemused look of skiers who couldn't entirely understand our heavy packs and snowshoes), we made our way towards the Polecat trail and prepared for our ascent.... bumping into mtnpa (out to enjoy the slopes), Steve, John, and June along the way. The climb began almost instantly, albeit at a moderate incline... and although the trail certainly bare bootable, I decided to put my snowshoes on for some additional traction. Nevertheless, I was fighting a pretty nasty cold. Despite the two Red Bulls and copious amounts of coffee that I'd downed pre-hike, I felt sluggish and a little weak. However, I refused to let it get me down, and determinedly pressed on. Wildcat Ridge was in the clear as we slowly made our way towards D Peak, stopping occasionally to chat with skiers... most of whom would exclaim in amazement that we were going the wrong way!
To our west, the Presidentials were enshrouded in a heavy mass of ice fog. Switchbacking our way up the trail, we soon reached the top of the express quad (to the congratulations of many skiers exiting the lift
). After stopping briefly to refuel, we turned onto the Wildcat Ridge trail and within a few minutes were on the very underwhelming summit of D Peak. I let one of my customary summit yelps and struck a rather strange pose:
Not wanting to linger, we were soon on our way again, Cath in the lead. Rocket21's trail breaking efforts from the day prior were still readily apparent, and made our journey across the ridge remarkably pleasant... with the exclusion of the ridiculous overgrown branches which never ceased to whack me at every possible opportunity. Shortly before C peak, I bounded my way towards the front so that I could snap a few pictures of the striking views towards Washington, still covered omniously in a thick blanket of clouds:
In seemingly no time at all, we reached the summit of A Peak, on which I, for reasons unbeknownst to me, decided to impersonate a wildcat:
...and whilst the summit itself is wooded, the views from the ledges were particularly striking:
Ah... but now the real fun was to begin. Up until this point, we'd had the pleasure of traveling on marvelous broken trail. No longer was this the case. Making our way down towards Carter Notch, the snow depth ranged from under a foot to waist-deep (for 75% of us). Nonetheless, when you have a happy trail breaker up front it's difficult not to stay in good spirits!
Upon reaching the infamous Wildcat A slide, we paused for a second, and then proceeded very carefully across the steep snowy bank... which fortunately held firm. From that point onwards, the journey into the notch itself was remarkably fast, as we scurried down the trail with surprising energy. I became particularly excited when I realized that we were going to have the opportunity to cross a lake! Furthermore, it was exciting to look upwards and realize just how far we'd descended...
After some deliberation, we decided to continue directly up to Carter Dome instead of stopping for a short break at the hut. Initially, the trail appeared to be broken out. However, within a few tenths of a mile... the tracks stopped.
Uh oh.
Trail breaking was tough. I quickly became frustrated by the constant slipping of my snowshoes on the steep terrain. Knowing that we had a lot of work ahead of us, we opted to break the trail in shifts, using the Cath's rope on occasion to navigate over some of the difficult sections. As slow, tedious, and thoroughly exhausting as it was, we persevered... and about one 1/3 of a mile from the summit, to our delight, we encountered a group of five hikers heading down the trail. Suddenly filled with energy, I took the lead once more, and as we neared the summit I let out a huge shout of joy. Huddling around the (deeply embedded) trail sign, we posed for a picture, thrilled to have earned such a tough peak:
Our journey began with a car spot... well, four car spots, to be precise: Carter-Moriah, Stony Brook, Nineteen Mile, and the Wildcat Ski Area - plenty of opportunities for potential bailouts. Upon readying our gear (to the bemused look of skiers who couldn't entirely understand our heavy packs and snowshoes), we made our way towards the Polecat trail and prepared for our ascent.... bumping into mtnpa (out to enjoy the slopes), Steve, John, and June along the way. The climb began almost instantly, albeit at a moderate incline... and although the trail certainly bare bootable, I decided to put my snowshoes on for some additional traction. Nevertheless, I was fighting a pretty nasty cold. Despite the two Red Bulls and copious amounts of coffee that I'd downed pre-hike, I felt sluggish and a little weak. However, I refused to let it get me down, and determinedly pressed on. Wildcat Ridge was in the clear as we slowly made our way towards D Peak, stopping occasionally to chat with skiers... most of whom would exclaim in amazement that we were going the wrong way!
To our west, the Presidentials were enshrouded in a heavy mass of ice fog. Switchbacking our way up the trail, we soon reached the top of the express quad (to the congratulations of many skiers exiting the lift
). After stopping briefly to refuel, we turned onto the Wildcat Ridge trail and within a few minutes were on the very underwhelming summit of D Peak. I let one of my customary summit yelps and struck a rather strange pose:
Not wanting to linger, we were soon on our way again, Cath in the lead. Rocket21's trail breaking efforts from the day prior were still readily apparent, and made our journey across the ridge remarkably pleasant... with the exclusion of the ridiculous overgrown branches which never ceased to whack me at every possible opportunity. Shortly before C peak, I bounded my way towards the front so that I could snap a few pictures of the striking views towards Washington, still covered omniously in a thick blanket of clouds:
In seemingly no time at all, we reached the summit of A Peak, on which I, for reasons unbeknownst to me, decided to impersonate a wildcat:
...and whilst the summit itself is wooded, the views from the ledges were particularly striking:
Ah... but now the real fun was to begin. Up until this point, we'd had the pleasure of traveling on marvelous broken trail. No longer was this the case. Making our way down towards Carter Notch, the snow depth ranged from under a foot to waist-deep (for 75% of us
). Nonetheless, when you have a happy trail breaker up front it's difficult not to stay in good spirits!
Upon reaching the infamous Wildcat A slide, we paused for a second, and then proceeded very carefully across the steep snowy bank... which fortunately held firm. From that point onwards, the journey into the notch itself was remarkably fast, as we scurried down the trail with surprising energy. I became particularly excited when I realized that we were going to have the opportunity to cross a lake! Furthermore, it was exciting to look upwards and realize just how far we'd descended...
After some deliberation, we decided to continue directly up to Carter Dome instead of stopping for a short break at the hut. Initially, the trail appeared to be broken out. However, within a few tenths of a mile... the tracks stopped.
Uh oh.
Trail breaking was tough. I quickly became frustrated by the constant slipping of my snowshoes on the steep terrain. Knowing that we had a lot of work ahead of us, we opted to break the trail in shifts, using the Cath's rope on occasion to navigate over some of the difficult sections. As slow, tedious, and thoroughly exhausting as it was, we persevered... and about one 1/3 of a mile from the summit, to our delight, we encountered a group of five hikers heading down the trail. Suddenly filled with energy, I took the lead once more, and as we neared the summit I let out a huge shout of joy. Huddling around the (deeply embedded) trail sign, we posed for a picture, thrilled to have earned such a tough peak:
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