1SlowHiker
New member
Mt Madison via Valley Way & Osgood, Friday 2-22-13
Trail Conditions: Valley Way: Excellent. Lots of traffic before me by 0930. Hard packed snow trail all the way to the hut. A bit softer on the way down with some collapsed spots on the deep downhill side but no significant postholes. Also no mentionalbe blow-downs and no wet crossings.
Osgood from the Hut to Madison: Not quite so packed through the dwarf spruce above the hut. Rocky after the trees with not enough snow for snowshoes. Some ice spots but easy to see and avoid.
Equipment: I wore snowshoes to the hut then microspikes up to Madison and all the way back down. Could have gotten away with spikes going up, but going down the snow was softer and I should have changed back to snowshoes. Most people (dozens on this trail that day) wore shoes up to hut (though some bare booters) then spikes or crampons up Madison.
Comments: I noticed that not many trails crossing VW were broken out on my way up but by the time I came down many were. Lots of people going to Madison (and beyond ) this day. Parking lot was fully plowed and packed. Getting to the hut was tough for me after using up my energy trying to do Isolation, but the climb from the hut to Madison was fun and I had great weather - clear skies and less than 10knots of wind. Still about 12-14 cars in the lot when I finished about 30 minutes after dark. Actually though packed there was still a thin layer of loose chopped up snow on VW so that going down, the spikes on my microspikes didnt really bite. But, I did teach myself how to boot glisade on many sections of the trail coming down -
FUN!
Trail Conditions: Valley Way: Excellent. Lots of traffic before me by 0930. Hard packed snow trail all the way to the hut. A bit softer on the way down with some collapsed spots on the deep downhill side but no significant postholes. Also no mentionalbe blow-downs and no wet crossings.
Osgood from the Hut to Madison: Not quite so packed through the dwarf spruce above the hut. Rocky after the trees with not enough snow for snowshoes. Some ice spots but easy to see and avoid.
Equipment: I wore snowshoes to the hut then microspikes up to Madison and all the way back down. Could have gotten away with spikes going up, but going down the snow was softer and I should have changed back to snowshoes. Most people (dozens on this trail that day) wore shoes up to hut (though some bare booters) then spikes or crampons up Madison.
Comments: I noticed that not many trails crossing VW were broken out on my way up but by the time I came down many were. Lots of people going to Madison (and beyond ) this day. Parking lot was fully plowed and packed. Getting to the hut was tough for me after using up my energy trying to do Isolation, but the climb from the hut to Madison was fun and I had great weather - clear skies and less than 10knots of wind. Still about 12-14 cars in the lot when I finished about 30 minutes after dark. Actually though packed there was still a thin layer of loose chopped up snow on VW so that going down, the spikes on my microspikes didnt really bite. But, I did teach myself how to boot glisade on many sections of the trail coming down -
FUN!
