Some days the confluence of forecasts for the Whites in winter are quite pessimistic and I attribute it to an over abundance of caution to keep unprepared folks off the summits. Other times like the previous weekend the weather turns out far better than forecast. A friend has been hiking in the whites for many years and has never had the ridge hike in the winter checked off so we have been keeping an eye on the weather. Given a similar forecast as the prior weekend which turned out quite nice, we decided to give it try on Saturday. I met him in the morning a Lafayette place and he had inadvertently brought the deepest snowpack we would see all day in the back of his truck as he had come up from the Sunapee area. At best the RT2 area near my house had received 1/2" of snow. Electing not to make the traverse of his spare tire we left the snowshoes and put on the microspikes as the OBP was a mixture of mostly ice, rocks and hard crusty snow with a light dusting. It was cold overnight and the ice was quite hard. I have both Kahtoolas and Hillsounds and depending on what footware I use decides which to use as the Hillsounds are one size larger. My friend had Hillsounds and later on it became obvious he had the best choice. The hike up OBP was great up to the first viewpoints with blue sky and sun up to around the 4K level where summit induced clouds hung tight to the ridgeline. We then left the viewpoints and headed up the Agonies, I was having a lot of trouble with the Kahtoolas as they had poor traction in the ice, my friend had far less trouble with his Hillsounds. I had crampons but given the scratchy conditions I wanted to delay putting them on. We eventually made it to the hut and took a break. There were other folks out but not a lot. We then headed up Lafayette where the clouds had lifted somewhat but the ridge was still covered. The winds also started cranking up once we got out of the trees. The trailbed was now a frozen stream bed of ice with the easiest walking on the scree walls. I was having tough footing and finally stopped to put on the crampons prior to where the trail loops around Lafayette and where may folks in normal winter just head straight up over the rocks. My friend who also had crampons elected not to put his on as he was not having any issues. We headed to the summit which was obscured in clouds with considerably more wind. The winds were supposed to be SW shifting to NW in the afternoon but in our estimate the shift had started early. The entire ridgeline was still covered in clouds and they hadn't lifted. We hung out a bit and decided to save the ridge for another day. More than a few folks we met on the ascent had the same idea.
We headed down and encountered a couple of groups with Kahtoolas who were having significant issues with Kahtoolas on the icy sections. They had resorted to butt sliding but it didn't look very pleasant as they were sliding down ice with rocks sticking up. We passed many folks in this predicament. Once we hit the trees we warmed right up as the wind was definitely elevatiosn dependent. We made our way steady to the hut concentrating on the footing. When we made it to the hut we turned around to look at the ridge and the clouds had lifted considerably. My friend had mentioned on the way down, that he thought this weekend was the sad anniversary of Guys Waterman's last hike and while at the hut we met a hiker who had made the hike just for that reason. The high points were obscured but much of the ridge was visible, we could see a few folks on the ridge but they were pretty sparse and the clouds whipping over the summit were a good indication that the winds were still present. Still it was disappointing. We then headed down the Agonies where even with my crampons it was still difficult. it don't keep my points sharpened and expect even if I had the conditions heading down would have dulled them. We came out to the viewpoints and the ridge was entirely in the clear. The rest of the hike was uneventful to the parking lot.
My friend isn't someone into lists and the goal was to do the ridge on nice day. It really come down to is we had the gear and the skills but not the motivation. Had the sun been out on the summit it may have been a different choice but now it just gives us an excuse to go back again. I think I now have an excuse to buy another pair of Hillsounds one size smaller as the traction benefits were definitely apparent that day. In general I had noticed that when I use my other boot combination with the Hillsounds but this was a good reminder.
We headed down and encountered a couple of groups with Kahtoolas who were having significant issues with Kahtoolas on the icy sections. They had resorted to butt sliding but it didn't look very pleasant as they were sliding down ice with rocks sticking up. We passed many folks in this predicament. Once we hit the trees we warmed right up as the wind was definitely elevatiosn dependent. We made our way steady to the hut concentrating on the footing. When we made it to the hut we turned around to look at the ridge and the clouds had lifted considerably. My friend had mentioned on the way down, that he thought this weekend was the sad anniversary of Guys Waterman's last hike and while at the hut we met a hiker who had made the hike just for that reason. The high points were obscured but much of the ridge was visible, we could see a few folks on the ridge but they were pretty sparse and the clouds whipping over the summit were a good indication that the winds were still present. Still it was disappointing. We then headed down the Agonies where even with my crampons it was still difficult. it don't keep my points sharpened and expect even if I had the conditions heading down would have dulled them. We came out to the viewpoints and the ridge was entirely in the clear. The rest of the hike was uneventful to the parking lot.
My friend isn't someone into lists and the goal was to do the ridge on nice day. It really come down to is we had the gear and the skills but not the motivation. Had the sun been out on the summit it may have been a different choice but now it just gives us an excuse to go back again. I think I now have an excuse to buy another pair of Hillsounds one size smaller as the traction benefits were definitely apparent that day. In general I had noticed that when I use my other boot combination with the Hillsounds but this was a good reminder.
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