una_dogger
Well-known member
MichaelJ and I headed up early saturday Pinkham, where we left our car and met Leaf. We all headed down to the Nineteen Mile Brook Trailhead, where we found a large box of food -- destined for Carter Notch Hut and the Fourth Annual Fool Scout's Ball. MichaelJ crammed some of the food in the remaining room in his pack as our little contribution to the overall effort. We also ran into Juniper, who decided to join us for the 4 mile trek up to the hut.
19 Mile Brook Trail is currently a well packed highway. Even though about six new inches of fresh snow had fallen friday, it was powdery light and packed down by the time we began our hike up. Most of the snow bridges have melted from the river, and its flowing strong. It was a pleasant walk up to the hut. The notch was drifted and the wind was roaring as we crossed the lake to the Hut. When we arrived, many guests of the ball were already there. We learned that we had packed the hut with our party - Woot!
After claiming a six bunk room in the upper bunkhouses -- Leaf and I emptied our packs except for some bare essentials, donned our snowshoes, and set off for Carter Dome. The goal was to try to push and see how much fitness we may have lost during our slacker winter season. The climb to the summit is 1550 feet in 1.2 miles. There was six inches of champagne powder over boilerplate as we began our climb. The wind was roaring through the notch, and didn't let up as we climbed the initial stretch of trail, a very steep climb along an rocky exposed trail to a large rock formation known as The Pulpit. In many places it was so steep, and added to that silky powder on top of hard pack and ice conditions made gaining purchase a challenge. We knew coming down would be tricky. The final step up to the pulpit was drifted over, and it took a few tries to climb it. The winds at this point were an estimated 50 mph sustained.
Having climbed the Dome from the Notch in January 2008, I knew that we would only be exposed for a short stretch here before entering the shelter of a deep spruce forest, and that the summit, while open and at 4800 odd feet, wouldn't be too bad.
We ran into a man climbing down and he told us, "are you going to the Dome? Its brutal up there!". The grade lessens after The Pulpit and we found that our next challenge was pushing our way through very solidly frozen branches! We were having a great time, and caught limited views of the Presidentials, which were obscured in blowing snow. Just before the final pitch to the summit, we began discussing our strategy for dealing with the winds. But for some strange reason, we couldn't hear them anymore. When we got to the summit, it was a bright bluebird day directly overhead, and there were light winds of maybe 5-10mph. The Presis were cloaked in dark clouds and blowing snow. Down below treeline, we could see eddies of snow swirling off the slopes.
High fives and a quick time check, 1:05 to make the climb from the Notch. Not bad for a couple of slackers! We hustled down to the Pulpit, glissading in the powdery drifts, which had reformed nearly as soon as we laid our snowshoe tracks in them. The winds through the Notch were still blowing hard, and we bent our heads into them as we carefully negotiated the drifts and steep and slick face of the Pulpit. Next came the steep trail down. Buttsliding was not an option, the narrow steep chutes through the trees dead ended into more trees. We carefully turned our MSRs to the fall line and dug in, sidestepping our way down. Crampons would have been helpful here, but we made out OK until...we came to the last steep drop. Just as I was commenting that this was the drop that had worried me, Leaf was down, sliding down the slope..her snowshoe caught mine, and I was down...down we slid..amazingly calmly, I spoke outloud, "It will be OK...we will stop" as we clutched eachother and continued to slide.. We slid into some deep snow and stopped before the line of trees. Phew! Our earlier tracks to the lake had fully drifted over..and we arrived back at the warm hut under two hours from our departure..YAY!
A hot turkey dinner, tons of treats and wine, and about 25 of our closest friends waiting inside for our return. It was a great party, for sure!!!
Sleeping in the uninulated bunkhouses at Carter Notch is definately an experience. The winds continued to howl so we stayed in the toasty main hut as long as we could. When we turned in, I was in my zero degree down bag, wearing my down booties and my down parka. I was cold for some time. About two am, nature called and I went outside. Remembering the story of the climber who slid to thier death on the Lotse face because they went out to answer the call of nature in down booties....I wondered if anyone would notice if I didn't return...there was a fair amount of snoring in our little bunkroom..where MichaelJ, Leaf, Dave Bear, Sunshine Chris and Juniper lay snug in their bags. The sky was a brilliant blue and the stars shone strongly, illuminating the cliffs on Carter Dome and Wildcat A magnifigantly! A little slice of crescent moon hung over the treetops. I made it back to the hut in one peice, jumped into my bag, and feel deeply asleep. Zzzzzz...
Predawn shuffling in the bunkroom was Leaf getting her pack ready to go. She needed to get to her car by 8am, and since she is heading to VietNam for one month, I decided to hike out with her. I nudged MichaelJ for his car keys and told him to meet me at the trailhead at 11am, when I'd pick him up. Thanks to Dave Bear for helping me stuff everything in my pack in record time! We headed down to the hut, where our snowshoes (along with about 40 others!) were sticking out of the snow. Dawn broke as we donned them. We said our goodbye's to Carter Notch Hut, and headed across the lake. As we descended the Notch, an alpen glow across Mt Adams came into view, and soon both Madison and Adams, cloaked in pink morning sunshine emerged. It was a beautiful sight.
As we headed down the trail we caught site of a hiker coming upward. He called out, "No way?!". It was Mountain Drew AKA Drewski heading up the hut to join the others for breakfast. It was great to see Drew, who I haven't seen since the late fall when we hiked Jackson and Hale together one day. We chatted briefly, then said goodbye, with plans to hike soon.
At the trailhead we ran into MEB and Little Sister gearing up for a climb of Wildcat A, they had just finished climbing Wildcat D on the other end of things. Way to go!
At Pinkam, Leaf and I shared an infamous all you can eat breakfast of the likes that only the AMC can prepare. YUM! I was happy to have an hour to spend with Leaf before she heads out of the country.
I now had two hours before I had to pick up MichaelJ. It was shaping up to be a BLUEBIRD day in the Presis. I bet alot of folks would be skiing Tuck's, and since I had never been there, I decided I'd make the 5 mile round trip up and back ...hoping I could make it in less than two hours, giving me time to get back to pick up Michael. I knew I prolly had to hot foot it, so I just started walkin'. I set a solid pace and kicked steps the entire way, passing many hikers headed for Washington via Lions Head, and a whole mess of skiiers headed for Tucks. I gave myself a 10:00 am turnaround time LOL! At ten am. I was shy of Tucks, but could see the sides of the ravine poking out of the treetops and decided to continue. At 10:07 I arrived at HoJo's and the Tuckerman Ravine Ski Area sign. Always neat to arrive at someplace I've only read about. About 20 skiers were already there. The sun was shining bright and there wasn't a cloud in the ski. The snow was hanging heavy on the headwall and the sign said the avalanche risk was moderate to high. Hmmmm.....these folks were brave. But, I had no time to ponder thier choices, I had to get Michael because our next stop was right across the road, the groomers of Wildcat -- and the amazing views of the Range. I snapped a few pictures and then decided since I only had 45 minutes to get to the 19 Mile Brook Trailhead, I better trailrun the 2.4 miles back to Pinkam...which I did. I passed people along the way, "good mornin' to you" I said to each one. Near the bottom, I passed a snowboarder and asked "Are you headed for Tucks?" His answer was yes and I remarked that he'd have a great day to be there as I sailed on by. Then I heard my name in a pleasant yet questioning tone. I turned back and the boarder introduced himself, it was our own Forestgnome. I quickly recanted my awesome weekend to FN, we high fived, and I jogged to the car.
I arrived at the 19 Mile Brook Trailhead at 10:59.
Next stop, Wildcat Ski Area. We were planning on a half day of skiing and overjoyed to find out the Sunday Afternoon Special was lift tickets for $20!! Woohooo!
Some of you may be wondering if, after all this hiking and jogging, my legs were putty. Well, as a matter of fact, not quite -- but after 3.75 hours of flying down every blue and a few black diamonds at Wildcat in AMAZING conditions -- my legs were indeed..putty...silly putty to be exact.
I just have to say that skiing right across the street from Mt Washington and spending the day on winding trails through the woods with that view...oh my oh my...Wildcat is the place to ski!!!
So that sums up my awesome weekend, I am thrilled to have spent so much time outside enjoying so many things I love to do and sharing much of it with some very special people. It just doesn't get much better than that for me.
19 Mile Brook Trail is currently a well packed highway. Even though about six new inches of fresh snow had fallen friday, it was powdery light and packed down by the time we began our hike up. Most of the snow bridges have melted from the river, and its flowing strong. It was a pleasant walk up to the hut. The notch was drifted and the wind was roaring as we crossed the lake to the Hut. When we arrived, many guests of the ball were already there. We learned that we had packed the hut with our party - Woot!
After claiming a six bunk room in the upper bunkhouses -- Leaf and I emptied our packs except for some bare essentials, donned our snowshoes, and set off for Carter Dome. The goal was to try to push and see how much fitness we may have lost during our slacker winter season. The climb to the summit is 1550 feet in 1.2 miles. There was six inches of champagne powder over boilerplate as we began our climb. The wind was roaring through the notch, and didn't let up as we climbed the initial stretch of trail, a very steep climb along an rocky exposed trail to a large rock formation known as The Pulpit. In many places it was so steep, and added to that silky powder on top of hard pack and ice conditions made gaining purchase a challenge. We knew coming down would be tricky. The final step up to the pulpit was drifted over, and it took a few tries to climb it. The winds at this point were an estimated 50 mph sustained.
Having climbed the Dome from the Notch in January 2008, I knew that we would only be exposed for a short stretch here before entering the shelter of a deep spruce forest, and that the summit, while open and at 4800 odd feet, wouldn't be too bad.
We ran into a man climbing down and he told us, "are you going to the Dome? Its brutal up there!". The grade lessens after The Pulpit and we found that our next challenge was pushing our way through very solidly frozen branches! We were having a great time, and caught limited views of the Presidentials, which were obscured in blowing snow. Just before the final pitch to the summit, we began discussing our strategy for dealing with the winds. But for some strange reason, we couldn't hear them anymore. When we got to the summit, it was a bright bluebird day directly overhead, and there were light winds of maybe 5-10mph. The Presis were cloaked in dark clouds and blowing snow. Down below treeline, we could see eddies of snow swirling off the slopes. High fives and a quick time check, 1:05 to make the climb from the Notch. Not bad for a couple of slackers! We hustled down to the Pulpit, glissading in the powdery drifts, which had reformed nearly as soon as we laid our snowshoe tracks in them. The winds through the Notch were still blowing hard, and we bent our heads into them as we carefully negotiated the drifts and steep and slick face of the Pulpit. Next came the steep trail down. Buttsliding was not an option, the narrow steep chutes through the trees dead ended into more trees. We carefully turned our MSRs to the fall line and dug in, sidestepping our way down. Crampons would have been helpful here, but we made out OK until...we came to the last steep drop. Just as I was commenting that this was the drop that had worried me, Leaf was down, sliding down the slope..her snowshoe caught mine, and I was down...down we slid..amazingly calmly, I spoke outloud, "It will be OK...we will stop" as we clutched eachother and continued to slide..
We slid into some deep snow and stopped before the line of trees. Phew! Our earlier tracks to the lake had fully drifted over..and we arrived back at the warm hut under two hours from our departure..YAY! A hot turkey dinner, tons of treats and wine, and about 25 of our closest friends waiting inside for our return. It was a great party, for sure!!!
Sleeping in the uninulated bunkhouses at Carter Notch is definately an experience. The winds continued to howl so we stayed in the toasty main hut as long as we could. When we turned in, I was in my zero degree down bag, wearing my down booties and my down parka. I was cold for some time. About two am, nature called and I went outside. Remembering the story of the climber who slid to thier death on the Lotse face because they went out to answer the call of nature in down booties....I wondered if anyone would notice if I didn't return...there was a fair amount of snoring in our little bunkroom..where MichaelJ, Leaf, Dave Bear, Sunshine Chris and Juniper lay snug in their bags. The sky was a brilliant blue and the stars shone strongly, illuminating the cliffs on Carter Dome and Wildcat A magnifigantly! A little slice of crescent moon hung over the treetops. I made it back to the hut in one peice, jumped into my bag, and feel deeply asleep. Zzzzzz...
Predawn shuffling in the bunkroom was Leaf getting her pack ready to go. She needed to get to her car by 8am, and since she is heading to VietNam for one month, I decided to hike out with her. I nudged MichaelJ for his car keys and told him to meet me at the trailhead at 11am, when I'd pick him up. Thanks to Dave Bear for helping me stuff everything in my pack in record time! We headed down to the hut, where our snowshoes (along with about 40 others!) were sticking out of the snow. Dawn broke as we donned them. We said our goodbye's to Carter Notch Hut, and headed across the lake. As we descended the Notch, an alpen glow across Mt Adams came into view, and soon both Madison and Adams, cloaked in pink morning sunshine emerged. It was a beautiful sight.
As we headed down the trail we caught site of a hiker coming upward. He called out, "No way?!". It was Mountain Drew AKA Drewski heading up the hut to join the others for breakfast. It was great to see Drew, who I haven't seen since the late fall when we hiked Jackson and Hale together one day. We chatted briefly, then said goodbye, with plans to hike soon.
At the trailhead we ran into MEB and Little Sister gearing up for a climb of Wildcat A, they had just finished climbing Wildcat D on the other end of things. Way to go!
At Pinkam, Leaf and I shared an infamous all you can eat breakfast of the likes that only the AMC can prepare. YUM! I was happy to have an hour to spend with Leaf before she heads out of the country.
I now had two hours before I had to pick up MichaelJ. It was shaping up to be a BLUEBIRD day in the Presis. I bet alot of folks would be skiing Tuck's, and since I had never been there, I decided I'd make the 5 mile round trip up and back ...hoping I could make it in less than two hours, giving me time to get back to pick up Michael. I knew I prolly had to hot foot it, so I just started walkin'. I set a solid pace and kicked steps the entire way, passing many hikers headed for Washington via Lions Head, and a whole mess of skiiers headed for Tucks. I gave myself a 10:00 am turnaround time LOL! At ten am. I was shy of Tucks, but could see the sides of the ravine poking out of the treetops and decided to continue. At 10:07 I arrived at HoJo's and the Tuckerman Ravine Ski Area sign. Always neat to arrive at someplace I've only read about. About 20 skiers were already there. The sun was shining bright and there wasn't a cloud in the ski. The snow was hanging heavy on the headwall and the sign said the avalanche risk was moderate to high. Hmmmm.....these folks were brave. But, I had no time to ponder thier choices, I had to get Michael because our next stop was right across the road, the groomers of Wildcat -- and the amazing views of the Range. I snapped a few pictures and then decided since I only had 45 minutes to get to the 19 Mile Brook Trailhead, I better trailrun the 2.4 miles back to Pinkam...which I did.
I passed people along the way, "good mornin' to you" I said to each one. Near the bottom, I passed a snowboarder and asked "Are you headed for Tucks?" His answer was yes and I remarked that he'd have a great day to be there as I sailed on by. Then I heard my name in a pleasant yet questioning tone. I turned back and the boarder introduced himself, it was our own Forestgnome. I quickly recanted my awesome weekend to FN, we high fived, and I jogged to the car. I arrived at the 19 Mile Brook Trailhead at 10:59.
Next stop, Wildcat Ski Area. We were planning on a half day of skiing and overjoyed to find out the Sunday Afternoon Special was lift tickets for $20!! Woohooo!
Some of you may be wondering if, after all this hiking and jogging, my legs were putty. Well, as a matter of fact, not quite -- but after 3.75 hours of flying down every blue and a few black diamonds at Wildcat in AMAZING conditions -- my legs were indeed..putty...silly putty to be exact.
I just have to say that skiing right across the street from Mt Washington and spending the day on winding trails through the woods with that view...oh my oh my...Wildcat is the place to ski!!!
So that sums up my awesome weekend, I am thrilled to have spent so much time outside enjoying so many things I love to do and sharing much of it with some very special people. It just doesn't get much better than that for me.
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