Date of Hike: Friday, February 6th, 2019. Trail Conditions: Hard pack snow, drifted powder, boiler-plate ice. Special Equipment Required: Microspikes, snowshoes, crampons. A tough mix of conditions for my seventh Presidential Traverse in the last seven months. Winds were calm, and temperatures hovered in the high teens and low 20’s all day. Valley Way was … Continue reading Presidential Traverse Plus Mount Jackson
Date of Hike: Friday, February 4th, 2019. Trail Conditions: Packed snow, unconsolidated snow, heavy drifted powder. Special Equipment Required: Microspikes, snowshoes. Comments: We departed Tripoli Road in Waterville Valley mid-morning and found easy walking along the hard-packed ski trails on Livermore Road. Our plan for the day was to loop the Tripyramids, using both the … Continue reading Tripyramids via The Slides
Date of Hike: Friday, February 1st, 2019. Trail Conditions: Unconsolidated snow, drifted powder. Special Equipment Required: Snowshoes. Comments: We departed the trailhead at the hairpin turn around 11:00AM and followed the Hancock Notch Trail to the Cedar Brook Trail, to the Hancock Loop Trail intersection. Once we reached the North/South split, we veered off-trail and … Continue reading Hancocks via Arrow Slide
Date of Hike: Saturday, January 26th, 2019. Trail Conditions: Unbroken snow, drifted powder. Special Equipment Required: Snowshoes. Comments: Wide variety of conditions on this hike, as one would expect in Winter on the Rocky Branch Trail. Our group consistently navigated a mix of hard-packed snow, unbroken snow, and heavily drifted unbroken snow from start to … Continue reading Mount Isolation
By Sarah Hunter. Originally printed in the AMC Maine Chapter Winter 2018 Newsletter; reprinted here with permission. Challenging climbs, thrilling descents, and stunning scenery framed our White Mountains cycling adventure this fall, while comfortable lodging, good company and camaraderie made this trip truly great. It was late October when I joined a group of intrepid cyclists on the brand new 130-mile, hostel-to-hostel cycling tour through the White Mountains, a collaborative project … Continue reading Cycling the Whites: An AMC Maine Chapter Trip Report
Date of Hike: Tuesday, January 22th 2019. Trail Conditions: Unbroken snow. Deep drifted powder. Special Equipment Required: Snowshoes. Comments: Departed Lafayette Campground at 12:00PM this afternoon and followed the Lonesome Lake Trail up to Lonesome Lake. The initial 1.1 mile section was hard packed and easy to bare-boot. After leaving the lake, the trail quickly … Continue reading Mount Cannon via Lonesome Lake
Title: Mount Carrigain via Signal Ridge. Date of Hike: Thursday, January 17th 2019. Trail Conditions: Unbroken snow, Drifted powder. Special Equipment Required: Snowshoes, Microspikes. Comments: The two mile road walk along Sawyer River Road was packed well with snowmobile traffic. Signal Ridge Trail showed signs of previous travel, but the snow was soft, and in … Continue reading Mount Carrigain via Signal Ridge
Title: East Peak, Osceola. Date of Hike: Sunday, January 13th 2019. Trail Conditions: Packed snow, Deep drifted powder. Special Equipment Required: Microspikes, Crampons, Snowshoes. Comments: Greenley Pond and Mount Osceola Trails were packed well and solid enough for spikes all the way up to East Osceola Peak. Crampons wouldn’t be overkill on the extremely steep … Continue reading East Peak, Osceola
Title: Garfield, Galehead, South Twin, North Twin. Date of Hike: Saturday, January 12th 2019. Trail Conditions: Unbroken snow, Deep drifted powder. Special Equipment Required: Snowshoes. Comments: Team of 4 followed a set of XC ski-tracks up Gale River Road and within a mile of Garfield Summit. Heavy, unbroken snow from the end of the tracks … Continue reading Garfield, Galehead, Twins
Avalon Trail had hard-packed snow all the way to Mount Field, with various sections of shin-deep powder. Willey Range Trail out to Mount Willey was choppy, with knee-deep drifted powder worthy of snowshoes. The crossing between Field and Mount Tom Spur was equally choppy, though drifts were far less deep. Hard-packed snow up the spur to Mount Tom, and all the way down to Crawford Notch.