dom15931
New member
The Hancocks would be my #'s 48 and 49 4000 foot mountains in the Northeast. (ADKs,Greens, Whites, Maine) My friend was sick and was unable to go. I am returning to PA in a week and I wanted something that would really put the icing on the cake of a fantastic hiking season for me. Though not my final hike this year, this one will do. 
I arrived at the Hancock trailhead at 9:45. I packed up and hit the trail at 10 sharp. I was dressed for the cold and took crampons, an ice axe, and poles. There was about 4 inches of snow here and it was quite cold and windy at the trailhead.
The first several miles of this route are very easy. There is a slight upgrade but you can walk briskly with ease. I made it quickly to the junction with Cedar Brook and here there were several watercrossings. These were frequent, I think there were five, but they were not too difficult. Upon seeing the Arrow I got a bit nervous about it. It looked intimidating and there was a lot of ice at the headwall were it forks off. Shortly after starting up the Hancocks trail and seeing the brook I made a go for the slide. This bushwack was short, maybe 100 yards or so. It then dumped down about 10 feet into the gully at the base of the Arrow.
Here it is basically a boulder scramble as it is for about 40% of the slide. This section reminded me of the boulderfield that takes you halfway up the Huntington Ravine on Washington. Similair grade and similair length. Ice was not an issue at this point but I could hear lots of water running under several feet of rock. The winds were really gusty on the boulderfield as it was exposed and the winds were coming straight into the slide. There are some real loose sections of rock. If hiking with others you definately would want to space out and distance yourselves. Since the entire slide is also an erossion channel staying out of the center or the deepest part is a good idea if in a group as any falling rock would likely head that way.
The headwall of the slide is best represented at the fork in the slide and extends serveral hundred yards down from here. This section is considerably steeper, more exposed, and wider. The grades here are similair, but probably a bit less, than that of the North Slide on the Tripyramids. The big problem here was that there was a lot of ice on top of running water and wet rock. The recent warmth and snowmelt has caused this and I kinda figured this would be the situation. I chose not to rely on crampons and head straight up over these sections of ice. This would have certainly caused the ice to break because of the warm surfaces and water underneath and would have sent me for a good ride and gave me some courtesy broken ankles to go with it. Instead I relyed on my ice axe and careful route selection. In many areas i simply chiseled off the ice down to the rocks to were there were many holds. One wack with the blunt end of the axe and a good chunk would be broken off to bare rock. This process was surprising quick. My plan was to avoid the large patches of ice by switchbacking the slide from side to side and sticky to rockier sections. There were several snow crossings where the snow drifted deeper and I utilized these also. This method worked very well. An axe was also very handy for aquiring holds and supports on low angle icy spots that had to be traversed. This was especially the case at near the top of the headwall were it was necessary to traverse the slide from center right to center left. I always bring my axe with me in the winter as I find they work excellent in these situations and can be a life saver if you slip. Some of the rocks here were also loose and I was careful on them. In all honesty so far this winter slide climb had been going really well, better that I had expected. At no point was I even remotely uncomfortable at progressing higher. The views were really opening up as I was approching the fork. I was really enjoying this slide and glad I had chosen to do it at this point as it was certain to be a success. I took the left fork at the cairn. There were some tricky places in here but nothing to bad.
The slide ends near the summit with with a 150 yard bushwack from HELL. Man are the black spruce thick here, nearly impassible. ...EDIT...(I have since been told that there is a herd path if you take the right fork, the cairn makes it appear that you should go left when this is appearently not the case, so this bushwack can be avoided!) I pulled my hood over my head because I new those trees would be dumping several tons of snow on me. This part was frustrating and not at all enjoyable. After serveral feet of sideways traversing to the left I got into an easy spot for about 150 feet or so, then right back to battling the conifers. Did a little zig zagging around and got up on a rock where I could see the summit. After a bit I came to some large rocks. Upon climbing up these I was very relieved. Bullseye. This was the overlook from the summit. . I had my lunch here and grabbed a photo at the summit and headed over to the South peak.
This section was very easy and enjoyable. It was very cold, probably around 10 degrees I am guessing but I was very warm and well dressed for this. I reached the south summit at 2:55. I did not stay here long as I wanted to get to my car by around 5 or so. It was steep decending the mountain here. There were some awesome views of the Owl's Head and Franconia Ridge a bit down from the summit. Further down I ran into two others who were removing downed trees and limbs from the trail. Thanks to these folks. I ran into another guy who I helped get rid of a larger tree across the trail. This was a big help for getting out of the woods quickly and I really appreciate those who do this as the memories of the Oceolas and their downed trees are fresh in my mind. Thanks again to these people.
I continued going at a nice clip the rest of the way out and needed my lamplight for the last fifteen minutes or so. I arrived at my car at 5:00. This was a great climb for me and is definately one of my favorites, It may even take out my Dacks trip last winter with my cousin Chad out of the #1 winter spot
I took a lot of pictures which wan be viewed here:
http://community.webshots.com/album/516455408ClsMhD
-Dom
I arrived at the Hancock trailhead at 9:45. I packed up and hit the trail at 10 sharp. I was dressed for the cold and took crampons, an ice axe, and poles. There was about 4 inches of snow here and it was quite cold and windy at the trailhead.
The first several miles of this route are very easy. There is a slight upgrade but you can walk briskly with ease. I made it quickly to the junction with Cedar Brook and here there were several watercrossings. These were frequent, I think there were five, but they were not too difficult. Upon seeing the Arrow I got a bit nervous about it. It looked intimidating and there was a lot of ice at the headwall were it forks off. Shortly after starting up the Hancocks trail and seeing the brook I made a go for the slide. This bushwack was short, maybe 100 yards or so. It then dumped down about 10 feet into the gully at the base of the Arrow.
Here it is basically a boulder scramble as it is for about 40% of the slide. This section reminded me of the boulderfield that takes you halfway up the Huntington Ravine on Washington. Similair grade and similair length. Ice was not an issue at this point but I could hear lots of water running under several feet of rock. The winds were really gusty on the boulderfield as it was exposed and the winds were coming straight into the slide. There are some real loose sections of rock. If hiking with others you definately would want to space out and distance yourselves. Since the entire slide is also an erossion channel staying out of the center or the deepest part is a good idea if in a group as any falling rock would likely head that way.
The headwall of the slide is best represented at the fork in the slide and extends serveral hundred yards down from here. This section is considerably steeper, more exposed, and wider. The grades here are similair, but probably a bit less, than that of the North Slide on the Tripyramids. The big problem here was that there was a lot of ice on top of running water and wet rock. The recent warmth and snowmelt has caused this and I kinda figured this would be the situation. I chose not to rely on crampons and head straight up over these sections of ice. This would have certainly caused the ice to break because of the warm surfaces and water underneath and would have sent me for a good ride and gave me some courtesy broken ankles to go with it. Instead I relyed on my ice axe and careful route selection. In many areas i simply chiseled off the ice down to the rocks to were there were many holds. One wack with the blunt end of the axe and a good chunk would be broken off to bare rock. This process was surprising quick. My plan was to avoid the large patches of ice by switchbacking the slide from side to side and sticky to rockier sections. There were several snow crossings where the snow drifted deeper and I utilized these also. This method worked very well. An axe was also very handy for aquiring holds and supports on low angle icy spots that had to be traversed. This was especially the case at near the top of the headwall were it was necessary to traverse the slide from center right to center left. I always bring my axe with me in the winter as I find they work excellent in these situations and can be a life saver if you slip. Some of the rocks here were also loose and I was careful on them. In all honesty so far this winter slide climb had been going really well, better that I had expected. At no point was I even remotely uncomfortable at progressing higher. The views were really opening up as I was approching the fork. I was really enjoying this slide and glad I had chosen to do it at this point as it was certain to be a success. I took the left fork at the cairn. There were some tricky places in here but nothing to bad.
The slide ends near the summit with with a 150 yard bushwack from HELL.
Man are the black spruce thick here, nearly impassible. ...EDIT...(I have since been told that there is a herd path if you take the right fork, the cairn makes it appear that you should go left when this is appearently not the case, so this bushwack can be avoided!) I pulled my hood over my head because I new those trees would be dumping several tons of snow on me. This part was frustrating and not at all enjoyable. After serveral feet of sideways traversing to the left I got into an easy spot for about 150 feet or so, then right back to battling the conifers. Did a little zig zagging around and got up on a rock where I could see the summit. After a bit I came to some large rocks. Upon climbing up these I was very relieved. Bullseye. This was the overlook from the summit. . I had my lunch here and grabbed a photo at the summit and headed over to the South peak. This section was very easy and enjoyable. It was very cold, probably around 10 degrees I am guessing but I was very warm and well dressed for this. I reached the south summit at 2:55. I did not stay here long as I wanted to get to my car by around 5 or so. It was steep decending the mountain here. There were some awesome views of the Owl's Head and Franconia Ridge a bit down from the summit. Further down I ran into two others who were removing downed trees and limbs from the trail. Thanks to these folks. I ran into another guy who I helped get rid of a larger tree across the trail. This was a big help for getting out of the woods quickly and I really appreciate those who do this as the memories of the Oceolas and their downed trees are fresh in my mind. Thanks again to these people.
I continued going at a nice clip the rest of the way out and needed my lamplight for the last fifteen minutes or so. I arrived at my car at 5:00. This was a great climb for me and is definately one of my favorites, It may even take out my Dacks trip last winter with my cousin Chad out of the #1 winter spot
I took a lot of pictures which wan be viewed here:
http://community.webshots.com/album/516455408ClsMhD
-Dom
Last edited:
