Silverfox
New member
The Plan: Up Ammonussuc Ravine Trail..over to Washington then reverse tracks down the range to Pierce
The Crew: usual suspects, Jeremy, Eric, Tim C and Val, Sabrina and Terra, Silverfox
The Day: after Christmas...BLIZZARD warnings for everywhere in the evening and tomorrow..Sabrina wisely bails to get home before it hits. We debate a bit ..all forecasts show low winds until 400pm so we proceed
The route: 1 degree at the Cog..beautiful morning..lots of snow but a well tracked out path gets us up Ammo to the Gem Pool in no time. At this point Tim..looking very green with Holiday Cheer? confesses he is not 100% Val sets a wonderful pace on a well packed out track to the upper water crossing. Snow depths increase dramatically and more on the way solid 2-3 feet everywhere. Some icy spots just below the hut. Tim decides to go down..and we later get a text that he is home in bed...
We set out for Washington heading out tuckerman's Crossover then cutting back across snowfields to avoid Crawford path sideslope. Eventually we abandon the trail all together and work our way on the excellent styrofoam snow towards the ridge. They almost had to bury me once but we traverse the last steep spot and come around to the summit buildings. Everything covered in Rime.. excellent visiblity..no wind..how lucky are we.. Eric's 24th trip to Washington. A very unhappy group with little equipment and wearing crampons comes up from the Pinkham side. We linger a bit than drop back down..the snow was excellent for snowshoe skiing..what a blast...we arrive to the penthouse suite at the hut for lunch in no time
Icy ascent to Munroe with a couple of weird places but snowshoes sufficed. New snow ramp leads right to the summit from northern saddle. Magnificent views..Pierce looks far away but off we go using lots of the snowfields and sections of the trail across Franklin..windblown moonscape..excellent
We run into the deepest snow around Eisenhower..several 5-6 foot drifts near top of Edmunds. Windfree on the summit...Once into the lee side of the cone snow depths increased dramatically. Jeremy and eric were breaking out 2-3 feet with much higher drifts..fortunately at this stage of our day it was mostly downhill.One more storm and parts of this trail will disappear like last year..lots of snow already.
Last climb of the day to Pierce was easy going . Great views back to our days route. Val and i sent Jr and eric out ahead to manage the car spot. Crawford Path was excellent footbed though the Grinch barebooter had punched out most of the little crossings..Smooth sailing to the notch where we were happily entertained by social hour at the hut with a beer and some meatballs..tasted pretty good at the time and timing was perfect as our ride appeared. Safe drive home with only a few flurries as I pulled into the door yard
What a great day out
a few pics that do no justice to the sky colors, excellent rime, or anything really
http://www.flickr.com/photos/silverfox777/sets/72157625679814754/
The Crew: usual suspects, Jeremy, Eric, Tim C and Val, Sabrina and Terra, Silverfox
The Day: after Christmas...BLIZZARD warnings for everywhere in the evening and tomorrow..Sabrina wisely bails to get home before it hits. We debate a bit ..all forecasts show low winds until 400pm so we proceed
The route: 1 degree at the Cog..beautiful morning..lots of snow but a well tracked out path gets us up Ammo to the Gem Pool in no time. At this point Tim..looking very green with Holiday Cheer? confesses he is not 100% Val sets a wonderful pace on a well packed out track to the upper water crossing. Snow depths increase dramatically and more on the way solid 2-3 feet everywhere. Some icy spots just below the hut. Tim decides to go down..and we later get a text that he is home in bed...
We set out for Washington heading out tuckerman's Crossover then cutting back across snowfields to avoid Crawford path sideslope. Eventually we abandon the trail all together and work our way on the excellent styrofoam snow towards the ridge. They almost had to bury me once but we traverse the last steep spot and come around to the summit buildings. Everything covered in Rime.. excellent visiblity..no wind..how lucky are we.. Eric's 24th trip to Washington. A very unhappy group with little equipment and wearing crampons comes up from the Pinkham side. We linger a bit than drop back down..the snow was excellent for snowshoe skiing..what a blast...we arrive to the penthouse suite at the hut for lunch in no time
Icy ascent to Munroe with a couple of weird places but snowshoes sufficed. New snow ramp leads right to the summit from northern saddle. Magnificent views..Pierce looks far away but off we go using lots of the snowfields and sections of the trail across Franklin..windblown moonscape..excellent
We run into the deepest snow around Eisenhower..several 5-6 foot drifts near top of Edmunds. Windfree on the summit...Once into the lee side of the cone snow depths increased dramatically. Jeremy and eric were breaking out 2-3 feet with much higher drifts..fortunately at this stage of our day it was mostly downhill.One more storm and parts of this trail will disappear like last year..lots of snow already.
Last climb of the day to Pierce was easy going . Great views back to our days route. Val and i sent Jr and eric out ahead to manage the car spot. Crawford Path was excellent footbed though the Grinch barebooter had punched out most of the little crossings..Smooth sailing to the notch where we were happily entertained by social hour at the hut with a beer and some meatballs..tasted pretty good at the time and timing was perfect as our ride appeared. Safe drive home with only a few flurries as I pulled into the door yard
What a great day out
a few pics that do no justice to the sky colors, excellent rime, or anything really
http://www.flickr.com/photos/silverfox777/sets/72157625679814754/
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