Mt. Passaconaway via Dicey's Mill Trail
Date of Hike: Thursday, March 12, 2009
Trail Conditions: Frozen granular, crust, ice chunks, blue ice (road)
Special Equipment Required: Traction (current conditions...may be different with warmer weather moving in).
Comments:
Ferncroft parking area *not* plowed after most recent storm - thus has 1" of frozen crust with some deep slush ruts, etc. May be a bit messy for a few days.
Road walk portion of Dicey's Mill Trail was very icy - light traction required. I had to put on my MSRs before I even reached the old inn cellar hole.
Beyond roadwalk to Rollins Trail junction - frozen granular with a generally breakable crust. Microspikers/cramponers were sinking maybe an inch. Traction of some sort not a bad idea, as not all of the crust was breakable, yet there was an icy glaze in the higher elevations. Water crossing has a narrow snowbridge formed over a log. A few blowdowns - I cleaned up the worst one a bit, but most of the remaining ones will need a bigger saw or axe.
Rollins Trail junction to summit (Rollins Trail didn't appear to have any tracks on it since yesterday's storm) - sometimes breakable crust, with increasingly large ice chunks on top (ice cube size near the summit). Water crossing near the old shelter is open, but there is a small log that one can cross on (or one can just jump over). The scramble ledge just below the summit is almost completely covered in snow at the moment (was bare/ice a few weeks ago). Microspikes would likely suffice.
There is a rare partial view from the summit area of Squam Lake thanks to the snowpack.
Your name: rocket21
Your E-mail address: [email protected]
Date of Hike: Thursday, March 12, 2009
Trail Conditions: Frozen granular, crust, ice chunks, blue ice (road)
Special Equipment Required: Traction (current conditions...may be different with warmer weather moving in).
Comments:
Ferncroft parking area *not* plowed after most recent storm - thus has 1" of frozen crust with some deep slush ruts, etc. May be a bit messy for a few days.
Road walk portion of Dicey's Mill Trail was very icy - light traction required. I had to put on my MSRs before I even reached the old inn cellar hole.
Beyond roadwalk to Rollins Trail junction - frozen granular with a generally breakable crust. Microspikers/cramponers were sinking maybe an inch. Traction of some sort not a bad idea, as not all of the crust was breakable, yet there was an icy glaze in the higher elevations. Water crossing has a narrow snowbridge formed over a log. A few blowdowns - I cleaned up the worst one a bit, but most of the remaining ones will need a bigger saw or axe.
Rollins Trail junction to summit (Rollins Trail didn't appear to have any tracks on it since yesterday's storm) - sometimes breakable crust, with increasingly large ice chunks on top (ice cube size near the summit). Water crossing near the old shelter is open, but there is a small log that one can cross on (or one can just jump over). The scramble ledge just below the summit is almost completely covered in snow at the moment (was bare/ice a few weeks ago). Microspikes would likely suffice.
There is a rare partial view from the summit area of Squam Lake thanks to the snowpack.
Your name: rocket21
Your E-mail address: [email protected]
