bryan
New member
date: 1/19/13
trails: zealand road, zealand trail, twinway, zealand spur, bondcliff trail, west bond spur, lincoln woods trail
conditions: new powder over a varied track on zealand road. zealand trail had a couple inches of fresh snow as well over a packed track. snow increased to zeacliff with a few inches on average and deeper drifted areas. 6+ inches of snow along the ridge line with deeper drifting to zealand and on to guyot. this was all over a solid crusty track. a mix of deep drifts, windpacked snow and bare rock over guyot. continued fresh powder to west bond with some harder crust up high. some deeper drifting over bond then a mix of unconsolidated snow and ice with a lot of exposed rock to bondcliff. most of the summit is blown completely clear then good coverage to the tricky rock scramble that most of us worked around to the right (west). from there to the wilderness trail was untracked powder of diminishing depth over a good base. some small open streams and seeps down low. once down on the old rail grade there was one set of ski tracks to the wilderness boundary then lincoln woods trail was packed out with a variety of footwear to the parking lot. the upper black brook crossing is completely buried, the middle was open and a rock hop and the lower was trickier with unstable ice clinging to the rocks. the smaller tributary along the rail grade section of bondcliff trail was snowbridged.
equipment: snowshoes are the footwear of choice.
comments: it turned out to be a pretty great bonds day. clear views despite the persistent overcast, nice snow conditions and though windy in the open sections it was never too cold to be a problem. a fair amount of trailbreaking, but mostly nice loose powder which was wonderful on the descent. never saw anyone else after zealand hut. thanks to karine, jeff, joe, heather and cynthia for an awesome day.
bryan
[email protected]
trails: zealand road, zealand trail, twinway, zealand spur, bondcliff trail, west bond spur, lincoln woods trail
conditions: new powder over a varied track on zealand road. zealand trail had a couple inches of fresh snow as well over a packed track. snow increased to zeacliff with a few inches on average and deeper drifted areas. 6+ inches of snow along the ridge line with deeper drifting to zealand and on to guyot. this was all over a solid crusty track. a mix of deep drifts, windpacked snow and bare rock over guyot. continued fresh powder to west bond with some harder crust up high. some deeper drifting over bond then a mix of unconsolidated snow and ice with a lot of exposed rock to bondcliff. most of the summit is blown completely clear then good coverage to the tricky rock scramble that most of us worked around to the right (west). from there to the wilderness trail was untracked powder of diminishing depth over a good base. some small open streams and seeps down low. once down on the old rail grade there was one set of ski tracks to the wilderness boundary then lincoln woods trail was packed out with a variety of footwear to the parking lot. the upper black brook crossing is completely buried, the middle was open and a rock hop and the lower was trickier with unstable ice clinging to the rocks. the smaller tributary along the rail grade section of bondcliff trail was snowbridged.
equipment: snowshoes are the footwear of choice.
comments: it turned out to be a pretty great bonds day. clear views despite the persistent overcast, nice snow conditions and though windy in the open sections it was never too cold to be a problem. a fair amount of trailbreaking, but mostly nice loose powder which was wonderful on the descent. never saw anyone else after zealand hut. thanks to karine, jeff, joe, heather and cynthia for an awesome day.
bryan
[email protected]
