7-Apr-2012 Kinsmans via Mount Kinsman & Kinsman Ridge Trails

Dry at the bottom, trail well-maintained. No blowdowns, and brush trimming had been done recently. Fresh blue blazes at the bottom especially. Some mud / frozen mud during the ascent. Stream crossings were unremarkable, with low water volume, although the one remaining snow bridge sounded hollow when whacked with a pole. Around 2,500 feet, rotten ice was a regular trail feature. Around 2,800, the ice had some staying power and required either traction or going off-trail to get around it. After the junction of Mount Kinsman and Kinsman Ridge trails, the trails had 6-12+" of full snow cover with a disintegrating monorail. There were some snow drifts quite a lot deeper than that as evidenced by some aging (and impressive!) postholes. I barebooted from base until the ice made the trail non-navigable, and then used microspikes. I saw no one in snowshoes all day - all microspike users. Col between North and South Kinsman had some of the deepest snow, but it was packed well. Windy day, but not unbearably so at all. Stood on the summit of SK for quite a while with no fear of getting too cold - winter hat and fleece gloves were enough.

On descent, the base of the mountain had warmed up enough to be muddy, but it still wasn't too bad - rock hopping was fine. Also, I found it much harder to descend then ascend. The ice and snow near the top coupled with some steep pitches just made it tricky to get a foothold sometimes. I cleaned off a pretty good patch of ice sliding about 20 feet on my side somewhere near the junction - not that I planned it that way. Gravity helped a LOT. ;-)

/Ethan Banks
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