The White Whale: Mansfield, 12/23/09

[Paradox]

Ishmael and I hiked up the Sunset Ridge Trail in an attempt to bag Mt. Mansfield 12/23/09. This one has been something of a White Whale for the both of. In December of 2007 we hiked up the Long Trail from Route 108 and made it to the col but spruce traps stopped our progress at 4070'. We tried this route again the end of March 2008 but neck deep powder in the col stopped us at 4000'.

We decided on a different route for this trip the Sunset Ridge trail, hoping to avoid the spruce traps of the East side, as well as the angry, toked up glade skiers. We met up at the Rawson Library and drove up to the Underhill Park. The lower part of the trail was well broken out with about 2" of fresh snowing falling on us from the morning, winds dead calm, temps in the mid teens, Zippy was loving it. We made the Sunset Ridge (3400') in an hour and a half. There we put on a layer and switched to mittens. The temperature was now about 10 degrees the winds picked up a bit.

By the time we got to 4300' the winds were howling and I noticed Zippy was whimpering. We ducked into a low spot and pulled a space blanket out of Ishmeal's pack and I told him to head for the top which was only about 400' away. I wrapped up Zippy and let her warm up on top of me for a bit. Visibility into the wind seemed to be about 1000'. When Ishmael got back I had him hold Zippy while I headed for the top. After I had gone only a 150 feet or so Zippy came galloping up to me as she had quickly wiggeled free from Ishmael. I could not let her go on to the top, so I turned around and brought her back down. So with a nod to Melville only Ishmael made it.

Definately needed goggles and balaclava. MSR snowshoes were the thing to have on your feet.

Also the freshly charged NMH batteries in my 60CSx died just after turning around to come back down and it shut off. After warming it up under my armpit for ten minutes I was able to turn it back on. It stayed on all the way down. Once the unit had warmed up in the car the battery level read 4 bars. Anybody else have this problem?

Wikiloc track

 

[MikeM]

Lithium batteries seem to perform alot better when it is cold. If I'm bringing my 60csx along when its real cold I use them. They are a little pricey but they also are a bit lighter.

 

[mookie]

Ishmael Anybody else have this problem?

Wikiloc track

yup.

i have turned around more than once on mansfield due to winds/visibitly.

 

[NewHampshire]

Definately needed goggles and balaclava. MSR snowshoes were the thing to have on your feet.

In other words, you were not likely to run into any nekked hikers today like Killington?

Brian

 

[DougPaul]

The temp limits of NiMH batteries are well known--one source gives -20C (-4F) as a lower limit. http://www.batteryuniversity.com/partone-15.htm (In practice the lower temp limit will depend on the current and the state-of-charge.)

Lithium (primary) cells are also well known to do better in the cold. However, there is a problem using them in the 60CSx. Fresh lithium cells put out 1.8V which is too much for the 60CSx--it will shut down. (I regard this as an error in the hardware design.) If you run the batteries in a flashlight or headlamp* for a few minutes you can "burn off" this 1.8V initial voltage spike and the GPS will tolerate the cells. (This problem appears to be unique to the 60Cx/60CSx/76Cx/76CSx GPSes.)

* Warning--some flashlights and headlamps can also be damaged by the 1.8V initial voltage.

Doug

 

[RoySwkr]

I can beat that Dr.2, having turned around 3 times on the E side and once on the W when the road up was too muddy for my car and no legal parking anywhere close

But a new year is coming...

 

[Tim Seaver]

In December of 2007 we hiked up the Long Trail from Route 108 and made it to the col but spruce traps stopped our progress at 4070'. We tried this route again the end of March 2008 but neck deep powder in the col stopped us at 4000'.

We decided on a different route for this trip the Sunset Ridge trail, hoping to avoid the spruce traps of the East side, as well as the angry, toked up glade skiers.

Isn't Mansfield a great winter peak? I love how challenging it can be for it's size. The route from Eagle Pass to the chin, in particular, really gets blasted by the elements almost all the time, making the route very hard to find at times. The snow formations in the pass and on the little headwall below the Chin can be pretty incredible.

If you like hunting for the trail and want a ridge all to yourself, head up Maple Ridge sometime, using Sunset as the descent. LOTS of fun, no traffic.

 

[Hikes4fun]

A commendation for turning back to spare your buddy