PETCH
New member
Peaks/Trails: Carter Dome, South Carter, and Middle Carter via 19MB, Carter Dome, Carter Moriah, North Carter, Imp, and Joe Dodge Cut off trails
Date of Hike:: February 19, 2011 (Saturday)
Trail Conditions: Packed snowshoe track with a couple inches of new snow. Some drifting at elevation. Stream crossings snow-bridged.
Special Equipment: Snowshoes.
Cast of Characters: CrazyBob, and Petch.
Commentary:
Well about midweek, work issues were impacting trying to plan a hiking trip for the weekend. I knew my fate rested upon logging in Saturday at 5:30am and checking the damage report. The hiking gods were watching from above as work issues had calmed down. A quick phone call was placed to CrazyBob. Out the door on a very blustery Saturday morning on a trip up to Pinkham Notch.
We had tentatively planned a trip up to the Carters. GPS tracks locked and loaded. The drive up Rt16 through the notch was interesting as walls of blowing snow cut down on visibility and a couple inches of new snow blanketed the road.
I suppose these conditions would make some folks change their plans. Hmmm....perhaps a day of outlet shopping, a stop at the local tea house? NOT!!!! At a minimum we would try for Carter Dome, and if possible try to hit South and Middle Carters as well.
We saw some AMC folks at the 19MB parking lot looking to do the Wildcats. Not too many cars at 8:15am as we began up 19MB trail with 1-2" of fresh stuff on the trail. We wore snowshoes knowing that conditions up high could be drifted. A lady passed us before we got to Zeta pass. (Later I discovered it was BeccaM). We passed 3 guys who were bare booting looking to spend the weekend backpacking down in the Wild River area. Now, that's hardcore on a weekend like this with all the trails heading down off the ridge to the East, unbroken and drifted.
Conditions began to deteriorate with elevation gain (imagine that?). Up near the top of Carter Dome, the winds were pretty brutal. I was freezing and in real need of some layering changes. I removed my sweat laden fleece jacket and gloves, threw on a shell, another hat and dry gloves. All was well in the world again. Final push up through some drifts to Carter Dome, and a quick turn around and back down. The winds were just plain nasty in the exposed areas.
Approaching Carter Dome
CrazyBob on top of a very Windy Carter Dome
Mt Hight
Back down at Zeta Pass it was decision time: Go down, or continue on and try to grab two more Winter 4k's. It was still early, so what the heck. We followed BeccaM's snowshoes tracks on the Carter Moriah trail towards South Carter. The trail in this area starts flat and then makes a pretty good climb to the top of South Carter. Then onward to our last peak- Middle Carter which looked about 100 miles away. I find it's always the case: the next peak always looks so far away, but once you head down into the col, and head back up it's really not that bad. At least, that's what I keep telling myself. The winds on top of Middle Carter were probably the strongest of the day. Both Bob and I were getting ice-cream headaches from the freezing wind on our faces. We needed the use of poles to stay upright. Great views over into the Wild River area, and great shots of the Baldfaces.
Baldfaces
We gotta go all the way up there?
Down from Middle Carter we went, descending into the safety of the trees. Soon we hit the North Carter trail junction and we took a left down towards civilization. Then another left onto the Imp Trail. The trail was in pretty good shape, but we found ourselves postholing in snowshoes from time to time. Finally the slow turn down near Cowboy brook and then the final left onto the trail going to Joe Dodge Lodge. This path was not packed out very well and was just a series of deep snowshoe postholes. The kittens could not be spared, and were sacrificed quite heavily. Short roadwalk on RT16 back to 19MB trailhead to find a ton of vehicles most of which were double parked. Luckily no one parked behind me, and we were able to get the heck out. #26,27,28 W48 for me, CrazyBob's is up around 30 or so.
Petch
Trip stats: 12.2 miles, 4540ft of gain, 7hrs
GPS track: http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=1486278
Slideshow from this trip^
Ascent List:http://peakbagger.com/climber/climblistc.aspx?cid=1767
Pictures:http://picasaweb.google.com/mpetcher/
Date of Hike:: February 19, 2011 (Saturday)
Trail Conditions: Packed snowshoe track with a couple inches of new snow. Some drifting at elevation. Stream crossings snow-bridged.
Special Equipment: Snowshoes.
Cast of Characters: CrazyBob, and Petch.
Commentary:
Well about midweek, work issues were impacting trying to plan a hiking trip for the weekend. I knew my fate rested upon logging in Saturday at 5:30am and checking the damage report. The hiking gods were watching from above as work issues had calmed down. A quick phone call was placed to CrazyBob. Out the door on a very blustery Saturday morning on a trip up to Pinkham Notch.
We had tentatively planned a trip up to the Carters. GPS tracks locked and loaded. The drive up Rt16 through the notch was interesting as walls of blowing snow cut down on visibility and a couple inches of new snow blanketed the road.
I suppose these conditions would make some folks change their plans. Hmmm....perhaps a day of outlet shopping, a stop at the local tea house? NOT!!!! At a minimum we would try for Carter Dome, and if possible try to hit South and Middle Carters as well.
We saw some AMC folks at the 19MB parking lot looking to do the Wildcats. Not too many cars at 8:15am as we began up 19MB trail with 1-2" of fresh stuff on the trail. We wore snowshoes knowing that conditions up high could be drifted. A lady passed us before we got to Zeta pass. (Later I discovered it was BeccaM). We passed 3 guys who were bare booting looking to spend the weekend backpacking down in the Wild River area. Now, that's hardcore on a weekend like this with all the trails heading down off the ridge to the East, unbroken and drifted.
Conditions began to deteriorate with elevation gain (imagine that?). Up near the top of Carter Dome, the winds were pretty brutal. I was freezing and in real need of some layering changes. I removed my sweat laden fleece jacket and gloves, threw on a shell, another hat and dry gloves. All was well in the world again. Final push up through some drifts to Carter Dome, and a quick turn around and back down. The winds were just plain nasty in the exposed areas.
Approaching Carter Dome
CrazyBob on top of a very Windy Carter Dome
Mt Hight
Back down at Zeta Pass it was decision time: Go down, or continue on and try to grab two more Winter 4k's. It was still early, so what the heck. We followed BeccaM's snowshoes tracks on the Carter Moriah trail towards South Carter. The trail in this area starts flat and then makes a pretty good climb to the top of South Carter. Then onward to our last peak- Middle Carter which looked about 100 miles away. I find it's always the case: the next peak always looks so far away, but once you head down into the col, and head back up it's really not that bad. At least, that's what I keep telling myself. The winds on top of Middle Carter were probably the strongest of the day. Both Bob and I were getting ice-cream headaches from the freezing wind on our faces. We needed the use of poles to stay upright. Great views over into the Wild River area, and great shots of the Baldfaces.
Baldfaces
We gotta go all the way up there?
Down from Middle Carter we went, descending into the safety of the trees. Soon we hit the North Carter trail junction and we took a left down towards civilization. Then another left onto the Imp Trail. The trail was in pretty good shape, but we found ourselves postholing in snowshoes from time to time. Finally the slow turn down near Cowboy brook and then the final left onto the trail going to Joe Dodge Lodge. This path was not packed out very well and was just a series of deep snowshoe postholes. The kittens could not be spared, and were sacrificed quite heavily. Short roadwalk on RT16 back to 19MB trailhead to find a ton of vehicles most of which were double parked. Luckily no one parked behind me, and we were able to get the heck out. #26,27,28 W48 for me, CrazyBob's is up around 30 or so.
Petch
Trip stats: 12.2 miles, 4540ft of gain, 7hrs
GPS track: http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=1486278
Slideshow from this trip^
Ascent List:http://peakbagger.com/climber/climblistc.aspx?cid=1767
Pictures:http://picasaweb.google.com/mpetcher/
