Winter Weekend in the Whites

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Joined
Jan 15, 2013
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Location
Vernon, Conn.
Although I'm supposedly working on the Winter NH4K list it was beginning to look like I wouldn't bag any at all this winter. Last weekend, though, I finally did, climbing three new winter peaks in two days, and getting in some redlining along the way.

All of the trails both days were well packed down. I was on snowshoes the whole time, because I had just gotten new ones and I wanted to try them out, but I could easily have done all of the trails in microspikes. The snowshoes, some almost new Tubbs Flex Alps, worked well. The conditions didn't really test their floatation qualities, but I can attest they grip the trail very well, and they have the Tubbs bindings I really like.

There were a lot of people on the trails both days. Although it got cloudy and snowed a little bit later on Saturday, otherwise it was clear both days, and only a little cold. There was wind up high both days, but nothing serious.

Saturday 8 Mar. 2014: Jackson and Pierce

After picking up the new snowshoes on the way to the trailhead I started out up Webster-Jackson Trail from Crawford Notch. This was my first time on this trail. I took it up the Jackson Branch to Jackson. It was my second time there, and the first time with views. There are great views of the Northern Presidentials there, as it turns out.

I then went north on the AT (which I have been on before). At Mizpah Hut Franco recognized me from having met on Hale last winter.

Before I left the hut I noticed a guy without snowshoes starting down the Mt. Clinton Trail, and I said, "Going into the Dry River Wilderness?" It turned out, as I suspected, that he was going the wrong way, and intended to go down Mizpah Cutoff, which I then directed him to.

On the way from the hut to Pierce one of the many people I ran into was Big Earl. I've hiked with Earl several times and have fortuitously run into him on the trail I think three times now.

By the time I got to Pierce a cloud had rolled in and it had gotten windier. I had been considering adding Eisenhower, but decided to skip it. I went down Crawford Path, redlining again. It snowed (and sleeted a bit) on the way down, but very lightly.

Sunday 9 Mar. 2014: Moriah

On Sunday I climbed Moriah via Stony Brook Trail, both up and down. This was my first time on that trail. I was the first person at the trailhead in the morning, but again I would meet lots of people on the trail. This trail starts out pretty flat and then rises at the end to meet the Carter-Moriah Trail (which is the AT there), which follows the ridge of the Carter Range. I had been on this section of AT before, but not when there were views this clear. The Northern Presidentials were especially impressive. One thing which didn't come out on the pictures, though, was the bright shining ice on the Baldfaces.

This was my third time on Moriah, but the first time I had any views to speak of at the summit. After hanging around a while I went back down the way I came.

Jackson, Pierce, and Moriah are numbers 30-32 on the Winter NH4K list for me.

Here are the pictures for Jackson and Pierce (Saturday).
Here are the pictures for Moriah (Sunday).

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Cumulus

NE111: 115/115 (67/67, 46/46, 2/2); Cat35: 25/39; WNH4K: 32/48; NEFF: 35/50
LT NB 2009

"I don't much care where [I get to] --" said Alice, "-- so long as I get somewhere," ...
"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."
- Lewis Carroll
 
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