Zealand, W. Bond, Bond

[Wolfgang]

I started out on Monday the 9th pulling my sled up Zealand Rd. and the trail to the hut. At the bottom of the hill I dropped it off and headed up to the hut to spend the night. My intent was to bag Zealand (#44), W. Bond (#45), and Bond (#46) for my winter NH 4K's. I had done Bond Cliff previously. Since a group was in there on Sat., I figured that this would be a good time. I had attempted the same hike in early Jan. but had to abort due to bad weather and conditions. I started out early on Tuesday and made it to Zealand Mt. The trail was well broken due to several people the day before, but beyond the trail was filled in with the several inches of snow and drifted by high winds from the day before. It's amazing how fast a trail can be filled in and drifted within several days. Well, I pushed on to Guyot, busting through lots of in your face branches, and breaking trail the whole way. Guyot was mostly bare ground with some ice, but over the back side and into the trees, it was breaking trail again. The trail under foot was really firm, as long as one stayed on it and not step off, as I did up to my thighs a few times. The spur to Guyot tent site appears to have been used a while back. The jct. sign is completely buried. I pushed on to Bond first where there seemed to be quite a few tracks on the summit, but tracks will stay around for a while with the wind continuously blowing the snow off. On the way back, I broke the W. Bond spur out which had completely filled in. I had to follow the blue blazes which where nearly at ground level. The summit cone was slick, but snow shoes worked for me. On the way back, I took the spur to Zealand to make it official. So, my numbering above is sort of backwards. Made it back to the hut just before the freezing rain started. At the hut on Tuesday was a student group which livened the place up and provided me an excellent meal of Chicken Cordon Bleu. Thanks again to Suzie, Dean, and Beth the caretaker. On the way out I met up with Drew Peterson, Ed Hawkins, and Al Aldrich on their way to do Hale and perhaps beyond. Nice to see those guys again. It was a tiring trip and it sure felt good to hit the shower back home.

Wolfgang

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

Nice work, Wolfgang. So true about drifting snow. When we hiked Cabot on Sunday we met Drew Peterson and Tom & Atticus on their way down, but their snowshshoe tracks were obliterated in only a few minutes, so much so that Steve Martin at first thought they had stopped short of the summit. Good to hear that Ed has recovered and is back on his snowshoes.

 

[Dave Bear]

Excellent TR Wolfgang! If I read this right, it sounds like you were up on top solo breaking trail back out to the summits. Awesome effort! Glad you had a nice time and got the peaks!

 

[Silverfox]

Nice job Bob

you're banging them out this winter...

 

[Wolfgang]

Excellent TR Wolfgang! If I read this right, it sounds like you were up on top solo breaking trail back out to the summits. Awesome effort! Glad you had a nice time and got the peaks!

So far all of my winter hikes have been solo. It takes its toll not having some extra feet to help.

 

[1HappyHiker]

Congratulations!
A splendid TR and an outstanding feat (especially since it was only your two feet to break trail for a good part of the way)!

 

[--M.]

Congratulations, Wolfgang!

 

[Tom & Atticus]

Bob, congratulations on three tough winter peaks. Three cheers for soloing, too! It's good to see you in the trip reports section after all your informative trail condition reports through the past few winters.

 

[Wolfgang]

Bob, congratulations on three tough winter peaks. Three cheers for soloing, too! It's good to see you in the trip reports section after all your informative trail condition reports through the past few winters.

Thanks Tom,
I kind of felt isolated not being able to post in the forums. So I guess you guys are now entitled to my opinion. I know my wife won't listen.

 

[WildPeaks]

Hey Wolfgang,

Haven't bumped into you in a while.
Probably because I didn't get out last winter except for a couple of quick ones.
That trip sounds like the coming attractions for me to finish the winter 4ks. Those three were attempted a few different ways 2 years ago, but something always got in the way, including the Valentines Day storm, with waist deep snow. We tried. Would have just gotten Zealand, so we turned back.
Glad you were successful!!!
What's left on the list?

 

[Wolfgang]

Hey Wolfgang,


What's left on the list?

Tom,
I have Isolation and Jefferson left to do. Made an attempt at Isolation a few weeks back after the last storm but was only able to break trail to the height of land on Rocky Branch.

 

[WildPeaks]

What a finish Jefferson would be. One of my favorite peaks.
You can do Isolation solo. You are quite capable!! The only problem as you mentioned was breaking trail alone. Best to have some help for most new snow that falls there. Our first trip there dumped 3 1/2 to 4 feet up in that area. Two feet+ at the trail head. We had a large group that day, and was well rested, but it was slow. Great time.
I always wondered what happened to all the snow that blows off Mt. Washington. ???? I'm serious too.

 

[DougPaul]

You can do Isolation solo. You are quite capable!! The only problem as you mentioned was breaking trail alone. Best to have some help for most new snow that falls there. Our first trip there dumped 3 1/2 to 4 feet up in that area. Two feet+ at the trail head. We had a large group that day, and was well rested, but it was slow. Great time.

One hazard of Isolation solo is deep spruce traps. I fell into an upper chest deep trap (right next to Davis Path) and Spider Solo fell into an over-the-head trap (E of the ridge), both (independently) solo.

I always wondered what happened to all the snow that blows off Mt. Washington. ???? I'm serious too.

Ever hear of Tuckerman and Huntington Ravines? The reason the snow gets so deep (particularly in Tuckerman) is it gets blown down from above by the dominantly westerly winds.

Doug

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

Quote:
I always wondered what happened to all the snow that blows off Mt. Washington. ???? I'm serious too.

Ever hear of Tuckerman and Huntington Ravines? The reason the snow gets so deep (particularly in Tuckerman) is it gets blown down from above by the dominantly westerly winds.Doug

A large part of the reason that the Tuckerman and Huntington Ravine cirques are there in the first place is their orientation relative to the prevailing winds, which were about the same during the Pleistocene when the bowls were initially carved by alpine glaciers.

 

[Ed'n Lauky]

Congratulations Bob. That was a very impressive hike. I guess one way to beat the wind on that hike is to go in from both sides, although you still have to get over Guyot. Whatever, you made it, and that's what counts.

One hazard of Isolation solo is deep spruce traps. I fell into an upper chest deep trap (right next to Davis Path) and Spider Solo fell into an over-the-head trap (E of the ridge), both (independently) solo.
Doug

Wow! That most certainly is food for thought.

 

[Jim lombard]

I pushed on to Bond first where there seemed to be quite a few tracks on the summit, but tracks will stay around for a while with the wind continuously blowing the snow off. On the way back, I broke the W. Bond spur out which had completely filled in.

Wolfgang

Nice account of your hike. We noticed tracks this past Saturday on Bond also and thought someone had been up there that day. We saw two people on Bondcliff decending but the trail from Bond to Bondcliff was unbroken so those were old tracks also.

I'm curious if you saw the deep hole Bryan left on the W Bond spur when he fell in up to his chest in a spruce trap. Most of us broke trail that day and noticed how nice and firm the trail underneath was.

Good job doing this solo

 

[Wolfgang]

I'm curious if you saw the deep hole Bryan left on the W Bond spur when he fell in up to his chest in a spruce trap.

Jim,

I remember reading about it in your post, but I didn't notice it on the trail. At one spot in the col of W Bond the trail sort of went over a high hump and I almost went over the top but at the last moment decided to go around it to the right. This may have been the spot, but I really didn't notice any deep hole, just a pretty deep drop off.