NH Tramper
Member
Lincoln & Little Haystack via Lincoln's Throat (up) & Falling Waters (down) - 1/24
Date of Hike: January 24, 2014
Trail Conditions: Since Lincoln's Throat is a bushwhack/mountaineering/ice route, I can't comment on it as a trail, though there is a bit of a herd path which is pretty easy to access from the Bridle Path, about one mile in (head down to the gully and keep going). I will comment on it as it is, though, for anyone interested: The ice is super thin and really weak in places (think dinner plates). It is supposed to be a WI3 ice route and instead was a more challenging mixed climb, probably a high M3, maybe an M4. Very sketchy. The steep snow was okay. There is a 2" wind slab atop powder up high but it seemed stable (we had avy gear just in case). We barebooted this route until we finally moved to the middle of the flow, at which point we put on mountaineering crampons (mono point ice crampons would have been ideal). Once on the Franconia Ridge Trail we went back to barebooting it. About 2/3 of the way down Falling Waters Trail we put on micro spikes due to patches of ice slowing us down. No blowdowns, all crossings easy, hardpacked trail with a thin loose surface. Some rocks STILL sticking up.
Special Equipment Used: We brought ice tools, ice ax, microspikes, and crampons, and used them all minus the ax. Trekking poles would have been useful, but this hike was an AVSAR winter shakedown hike/climb and trekking poles are usually left at home on SAR missions. Instead we had full avy rescue gear and ropes. Snowshoes weren't needed, through it would have been fun to glissade in them down Falling Waters.
Comments: Hiked/climbed this one with Mike Pelchat and Geoff Wilson of AVSAR as a winter shakedown. The brutal cold, the tough slog in, and the much harder-and-sketchier-than-expected mixed climbing made this a fairly tough day, but a highly memorable one.
Mike "Tramper" Cherim
North Conway NH
Date of Hike: January 24, 2014
Trail Conditions: Since Lincoln's Throat is a bushwhack/mountaineering/ice route, I can't comment on it as a trail, though there is a bit of a herd path which is pretty easy to access from the Bridle Path, about one mile in (head down to the gully and keep going). I will comment on it as it is, though, for anyone interested: The ice is super thin and really weak in places (think dinner plates). It is supposed to be a WI3 ice route and instead was a more challenging mixed climb, probably a high M3, maybe an M4. Very sketchy. The steep snow was okay. There is a 2" wind slab atop powder up high but it seemed stable (we had avy gear just in case). We barebooted this route until we finally moved to the middle of the flow, at which point we put on mountaineering crampons (mono point ice crampons would have been ideal). Once on the Franconia Ridge Trail we went back to barebooting it. About 2/3 of the way down Falling Waters Trail we put on micro spikes due to patches of ice slowing us down. No blowdowns, all crossings easy, hardpacked trail with a thin loose surface. Some rocks STILL sticking up.
Special Equipment Used: We brought ice tools, ice ax, microspikes, and crampons, and used them all minus the ax. Trekking poles would have been useful, but this hike was an AVSAR winter shakedown hike/climb and trekking poles are usually left at home on SAR missions. Instead we had full avy rescue gear and ropes. Snowshoes weren't needed, through it would have been fun to glissade in them down Falling Waters.
Comments: Hiked/climbed this one with Mike Pelchat and Geoff Wilson of AVSAR as a winter shakedown. The brutal cold, the tough slog in, and the much harder-and-sketchier-than-expected mixed climbing made this a fairly tough day, but a highly memorable one.
Mike "Tramper" Cherim
North Conway NH
