CrazySage
New member
Date of Hike: 2/27/16
Trails: Pine Bend Brook and Mt Tripyramid Trails
Conditions: Compact, and slick, snow. The whole trail is still snow covered, with a nice firm base. This makes for a pleasant walk at lower elevations, but makes it rather nerve-wracking on the steep sections, where most people have sledded the surface down to a slick chute. Take care! All the stream crossings are open, but rock-hoppable. There were 3 significant blowdowns at lower elevations, which were causing people to go off-trail to get around. I cleared branches from one of them (the highest one up the valley), but didn’t have time to stop at the other 2.
Special Equipment: I wore microspikes from start to finish. I saw a few people wearing crampons and I was a little jealous: I could have used them on my decent. Snowshoes would have been overkill, but could still be needed in the future if there’s a good snowfall. A small, foldable saw to clear branches off the blowdowns would be nice if you have the time and inclination.
Comments: Met a lot of nice people today, including an all-female Tufts Outdoors club, a very nice gentleman who is working on his winter 48s in lieu of poor skate skiing, and a nice couple with HUGE packs continuing over to Whiteface and Passaconaway.
Jen English
jenglish one at worcester dot edu
Trails: Pine Bend Brook and Mt Tripyramid Trails
Conditions: Compact, and slick, snow. The whole trail is still snow covered, with a nice firm base. This makes for a pleasant walk at lower elevations, but makes it rather nerve-wracking on the steep sections, where most people have sledded the surface down to a slick chute. Take care! All the stream crossings are open, but rock-hoppable. There were 3 significant blowdowns at lower elevations, which were causing people to go off-trail to get around. I cleared branches from one of them (the highest one up the valley), but didn’t have time to stop at the other 2.
Special Equipment: I wore microspikes from start to finish. I saw a few people wearing crampons and I was a little jealous: I could have used them on my decent. Snowshoes would have been overkill, but could still be needed in the future if there’s a good snowfall. A small, foldable saw to clear branches off the blowdowns would be nice if you have the time and inclination.
Comments: Met a lot of nice people today, including an all-female Tufts Outdoors club, a very nice gentleman who is working on his winter 48s in lieu of poor skate skiing, and a nice couple with HUGE packs continuing over to Whiteface and Passaconaway.
Jen English
jenglish one at worcester dot edu