Its still winter in the whites!

TIme for the standard reminder

With all the warm weather and lack of snow on the ground south of the whites, this is the time of the year when folks look out their windows down in Mass or southern NH, hop in the car for a spring hike with minimal gear and proceed to get in trouble due to lack of gear. I woke in the north country to fresh show in the yard and trees with high winds and cold temps this morning (3/9) . It may be 50 degrees on Sunday, but you still need to gear if you are doing summits. Even with an early warm up there may be enough snow to require snowshoes as the snow warms up.

I hope that there is enough snow for snowshoes because if not, it probably means boilerplate.

Thanks for the reminder.

Tim

The Massachusetts and Connecticut media need to hear this news.

erugs said:

The Massachusetts and Connecticut media need to hear this news.

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There has been a rather heavy campaign to convince us "southerners" that the commercial ski areas still have plenty of snow....

Doug

I'm sure that's true, Doug, but we all know that ski areas make snow. Mother nature has not done such a fine job this winter and "southerners" might not be clued in to what's in the Whites and all they need to be ready for.

On the other hand, many lakes and ponds are not safe this winter in the north, and we continue to see people and dogs fall through. (Example: a woman called for a rescue of her two dogs, then fell in herself and needed to be pulled out, from Lake Ossippee, I think.)

DougPaul said:

There has been a rather heavy campaign to convince us "southerners" that the commercial ski areas still have plenty of snow....

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Bretton Woods has 98/102 trails open. That means almost all their glades are open, which means significant enough snow cover for the woods to be skiable. That in itself does say a lot.

Plenty of snow in the Willey range Monday with 8 fresh inches of pow down low..... Let's hope the postholing hordes don't screw up all the sweet packed out trails this weekend. (I know, eternal optimist!)

An update on 3/15, fresh snow on the ground and the trees are white in Gorham NH. Given the forecast, I dont think it will last for long. There is still enough snowpack in the region that with the expected warm temps this weekend, that snow bridges over streams will be gone or unsafe and there could be high stream flows especially in the afternoon. When I drove by the Wild River this Monday, it looked like the ice pack was aleady gone but it will be interesting to watch the stream flow gauges.

xc skiing

Fyi...my wife checked and Bretton Woods and Great Glen have closed and Jackson was hoping to be open til this Sunday(?).

peakbagger said:

An update on 3/15, fresh snow on the ground and the trees are white in Gorham NH. Given the forecast, I dont think it will last for long. There is still enough snowpack in the region that with the expected warm temps this weekend, that snow bridges over streams will be gone or unsafe and there could be high stream flows especially in the afternoon. When I drove by the Wild River this Monday, it looked like the ice pack was aleady gone but it will be interesting to watch the stream flow gauges.

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Any idea how much is still on the ground at Jericho Lake ?

yes, that's right...

MTNRUNR said:

Fyi...my wife checked and Bretton Woods and Great Glen have closed and Jackson was hoping to be open til this Sunday(?).

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right--I had thought to xc this weekend, but these places are closed. the earlier poster must have meant Bretton Woods downhill areas only, presumably......

Anyone seen the condition of Zealand road .?...hoping to ski it this Saturday.

From Galehead 3-15-2012 :

Wolfgang said:

Date of Hike: Thur., Mar. 15, 2012

Trails: Beaver Brook Ski Trail, Gale River Loop Rd., Gale River Trail, Frost Trail

Conditions: Bare ground from Beaver Brook Rest Area to about 1/2 mile up the Gail River Tr.

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Looks like we'll be walking some parts of the trail this weekend. omg - walking

Chip, I would expect Jericho Lake may be in partial mud season mode. The rain overnight has "burned" down the snow pack in Gorham (elev 1400 feet) , The packed down snow machine routes may still have cover on them similar to the dreaded monorail on hiking trails. Any stream or drainage crossings will most likely be melted out. I dont know if an ATV park ever closes during mud season so they may be open but plan to hit a car wash on the way out.

peakbagger said:

Chip, I would expect Jericho Lake may be in partial mud season mode. The rain overnight has "burned" down the snow pack in Gorham (elev 1400 feet) , The packed down snow machine routes may still have cover on them similar to the dreaded monorail on hiking trails. Any stream or drainage crossings will most likely be melted out. I dont know if an ATV park ever closes during mud season so they may be open but plan to hit a car wash on the way out.

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thanks. boys were hoping for a last snowmobile outing. looks like that ship has sailed. they did pretty well this year, considering.

Chip said:

thanks. boys were hoping for a last snowmobile outing. looks like that ship has sailed. they did pretty well this year, considering.

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I'd say we encountered no snow at all till we were half way up the Cog road yesterday. Maybe 2000' or so?

Zealand Road

Brambor said:

Anyone seen the condition of Zealand road .?...hoping to ski it this Saturday.

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It was skiable last weekend, except for the bridge. But not much cover. I suspect it will be walkable this weekend. (see my report on Pemi ski traverse.)

For an indication of this weekends higher summits snow, as of Friday AM 4/13, looking out the window towards the Northern Presis I see fresh ground cover at Crag Camp and snow covered trees possibly dropping down 500 feet of elevation from there. Kings Ravine that was starting to melt out to reveal the "seven" snow formation a few weeks ago is solid white. There is snow in the trees on the Airline Ridge down to about Chemin Des Dames Jnct with the rock formations up slope from there all showing solid white. The Pine Link ridge going up Madison has no obvious snow up until the junction with Howker Ridge Trail. The ridge blocks my view of the east side of Madison (the area of the Daniel Webster Scout Trail), but is white as much as I can see. The RMC site showed 21inches at the stake at Gray Knob on the 11th and there has been significant precip since then so there could be enough snow to impede travel without snowshoes.

I expect some snow melt today but for those going over 4000 feet on Saturday at least in the northern Whites, I would expect some fresh snow pack covering the "rail" especially in shady places and significant "balling" conditions for traction and snowshoes. I would suggest a can of Pam for the shoes and a good sense of humor as it should be real pretty with the fresh snow.

local TV news in BTV reporting Mt Mansfield got 25" earlier this week. Other summits such as Killington and Jay peak well over a foot up high with nothing in the Champlain Valley around the Lake. Whiteface in NY also got dumped on so I expect all high country in the region got at least a foot of new snow this week. With temps approaching 80 by Monday in BTV, I expect the trails will be an absolute mess. I plan an staying off the high trails and let them dry our for a few weeks.