NeoAkela
Active member
Trail Conditions: Icy. First water crossings easy on bare rocks. Later water crossings have rocks with thick coating of ice. Sawteeth ledge area is in parts one big ice flow from the day of rain a few days back. Upper trail starts nice, then gets icier and glazed. No snow cover, and most of the ice was thick, smooth, clear and solid. Approaching Alpine zone trail becomes a frozen slab with no rock exposure & little to hold onto. Falling here would have not been good. Did not bring ice axe, so turned back just a few hundred yards below summit.
Special Equipment Required: Microspikes were essential for most of the entire trail. Even the paved walkway to the trailhead was covered with a sheet of ice. Near the Alpine zone, full crampons would be recommended. Not sure how the ridge is, but I'd suspect much better above the ice flows.
Comments: Beautiful day to be out on the trails. A bit disappointed to not summit, but being a solo hike, I made the decision that I had reached a section I was not comfortable attempting alone. I'm sure I could have continued, but one slip would have meant a long, bone-breaking slide. Not something on my agenda today. Waterfalls and streams were beautiful with fascinating ice displays.
Looking at the other trip reports, looks like the Presis had some snow cover that provided traction! Funny that I chose the Franconias instead for that exact reason - figured that the higher peaks would have been worse.
Special Equipment Required: Microspikes were essential for most of the entire trail. Even the paved walkway to the trailhead was covered with a sheet of ice. Near the Alpine zone, full crampons would be recommended. Not sure how the ridge is, but I'd suspect much better above the ice flows.
Comments: Beautiful day to be out on the trails. A bit disappointed to not summit, but being a solo hike, I made the decision that I had reached a section I was not comfortable attempting alone. I'm sure I could have continued, but one slip would have meant a long, bone-breaking slide. Not something on my agenda today. Waterfalls and streams were beautiful with fascinating ice displays.
Looking at the other trip reports, looks like the Presis had some snow cover that provided traction! Funny that I chose the Franconias instead for that exact reason - figured that the higher peaks would have been worse.
