Wednesday Feb 28, 2007

The Right Side of Chia

Well, we have been having some beautiful weather the last couple of days. I have had a few days off but decided that it would be better to rest a bit and catch up on some office work and errands instead of going out to ski or climb. I have heard that the skiing on Mount Washington has been good. This is the kind of weather where almost anything outside is good.

Today I went to Frankenstein with Jonathan. It was amazing, particularly this morning when things were in the sun. Our first choice of routes was the Right Side of Chia. This steep line is pretty dramatic and catches the sun. The ice was great and the warmth felt good. Seeing that Jonathan hadn't climb yet this season, I broke up the climb into two pitches so I could coach. It didn't take too long for Jonathan to hit his stride. After that first pitch, I knew we would be having a steep day.

After doing that route we headed over to the Hobbit and climbed there. Hobbit is pretty beat up but still very climbable. There are a number of good hooks but if you swing too much you'll calve off fairly big pieces of ice. From there we hiked down and climbed the steep right side of Pegasus then veered off to the Rock Finish. To cap it off, we then went back to Chia and climbed that by the normal line.

The upper part of the Right Side of Chia

Hobbit Couloir

 

Monday Feb 26, 2007

The Window Route

This past weekend I climbed with Jonathan and Rob. We met on Saturday morning and got geared up. I had climbed some rock with Jonathan and had skied with him but this was his first ice experience. Rob had done some simple mountaineering but had no real technical climbing experience. The goal was to climb a route in Huntington Ravine on Sunday so Saturday was for training. Both of them are fit and athletic so the first day we headed to Frankenstein. The first climb we went to was Bob's Delight. Although it is a little difficult for the first climb, it is in a good spot with its south facing aspect and out of the wind so it makes for a good learning environment.

The big conditions news is that Widow's Walk fell down sometime Thursday or Friday. Probably Feb. 22 as that day was warm and sunny. It's too bad as it was just touching down and looked like it might be climbable soon. It obviously wasn't touching down enough to support the column.

After climbing and some coaching on Bob's, we went over to Standard to do a multi-pitch route. There was a party going up the normal line so we headed up the Window Route. We did that line in 3 pitches. From the top we walked off and headed back to the the car.

The next day we met a 7 AM in North Conway and drove up to Pinkham. The weather forecast was to be petty good with moderate temperatures and light wind. We approached Huntington with an open mind. I wanted to see how the approach went before committing to a climb and I wanted to see which routes were open. I had hoped we could really enjoy the weather by doing one of the south facing routes, particularly Yale or Damnation. When we arrived the typical line of people were heading to Pinnacle. Fortunately for us, Yale was wide open. In the end we could see many parties on Pinnacle and Central, a party on Odell's and one on Diagonal. When we topped out on the Alpine Garden, we met a party that had climbed Damnation. All in all, it was a good day in the ravine and a number of parties took advantage of it.

All the climbs are in good shape. South Gully looked a little snow starved though. Yale had a lot of ice in it; I can't remember ever climbing it with so much ice. All the climbs look pretty icy. It appears that the wind has blown all the snow out of the climbs and ended up in the fan which is nicely filled in given the lack of snow this year.

From the top of the climb, we decided to head for the summit. It was a little late but the weather was very good and we struck a brisk pace and made it to the summit quickly. From the summit we descended down towards Lion's Head. From the Alpine Garden, we turned right into Right of Right Gully, aka Lobster Claw. As I had hoped, the snow was in great condition for a glissade. From the floor of Tuckerman Ravine we headed back to Pinkham making it down well before dark. It was great to be able to take advantage of such a nice day on the mountain.

Looking down Yale

High on Yale, with all the snow blown away

Climbers on Diagonal

Odell's

Pinnacle

Top of Yale on the Alpine Garden

The summit photo

Right of Right aka Lobster Claw Gully

 

Friday Feb 23, 2007

Looking down Goofers

Today Trish and I headed over to Cathedral Ledge to climb Goofers. We took the trail that comes up directly below it as it looked the most used. We ended up descending down by going below the Mordor Wall. If I were to do it again I would go up and down via the Mordor Wall.

The start of the climb was typically thin. I didn't try to get a screw in but you might be able to get a small screw most of the way. There is bolt you could see to the side but it seemed too far right to be worth the trip. It was obvious the route had been climbed quite a bit and the hooks/sticks were solid through the thin section. Once it begins to steepen you can get a descent screw in and from there it gets fatter. About halfway up there is a good thread.

We did the route in two pitches belaying at the first thread. The second pitch is plenty fat and at its top there was another thread. We belayed at the top of the second pitch at the bolts. I lowered Trish down the full rope length to the ground, I then set up a rappel and went to the first thread, from there I rappelled to the ground. It was nice and handy that someone had set it up to rappel down with a single 60m rope.

 

 

Getting to the first steep section

A beautiful finish

 

 

Thursday Feb 22, 2007

Standard with hooks everywhere!

Yesterday and today I was climbing with Trish. Yesterday we went to Frankenstein. Trish had climbed ice with me in the past and had climbed ice last winter. This was her first ice climbing trip this season so we went over to Standard to warm up. The first thing we did was the Window Route. From the top of that route we did the normal first two pitches of Standard in one and rappelled off from there. Standard is in good shape and it is obvious it has been climbed a lot. On both the Window and Regular lines, I hardly had to swing my tools because the hooks were so good.

After that warm up we headed over to Bob's Delight. Being that this is a holiday week, I was surprised to see that Bob's was opening up with a party just topping out. I led up the route and set it up as a top rope to be able to do some coaching for Trish. Once she climbed it we pulled the rope and another party hopped onto it. Bob's is starting to suffer from the sun a bit. There are sections that are stating to sound hollow. It may last a bit longer if it stays cold and more importantly cloudy but I doubt it will be around much into March. From Bob's, Trish and I crossed the trestle and hiked up to Chia. We climbed up the ramp route to the top and hiked down and out. Chia's right side is seeing some deterioration from the sun but the main flow is still in good shape.

Today, Trish and I took advantage of the mild temperatures and calm winds to climb in Huntington Ravine. This was Trish's first time climbing in the ravine. The ravine is in good shape with most of the snow having been blown out of the gullies and down into the fan. This was the first time this year I didn't have to hike through the boulders to get to the base of the climbs. The lower sections of the ravine have filled in nicely. The route we chose to climb was Odell's. It had been blown pretty clean so it had lots of ice. There was only one party in the ravine that we saw and I suspect they went to Pinnacle. It was a great day on the mountain but it sounds like tomorrow will be cold and windy.

Bob's looking like it has seen some sun

Steep climbing on Chia

The bottom of Huntington filling up

Lots of ice in O'dells

Odell's

Central

A thin South Gully

Yale

Damnation and North

 

 

 

Tuesday Feb 20, 2007

Heros and Terry at treeline just before the camera went out!

Yesterday I climbed with Heros and Terry. The goal was an ascent of Mount Washington. The day was one of the coldest, windiest days I have made an attempt this season. The wind was in the high 60's to 70 mph and the temperatures were around -18. There are times when the wind can be that high on the summit but lower down on the mountain the winds are substantially calmer. Yesterday however, the wind was strong even below treeline and the wind and cold were a factor from the time we broke the treeline.

From the treeline we headed up towards Lion's Head. We kept a quick pace to a small lee to below the summit of the Lion's Head where we took a brief rest. This was Terry's and Heros's first time on the mountain in winter and the first introduction to using crampons. They were able to keep that brisk pace that allowed us to make it to this point. From Lion's Head, we hit stronger winds across the Alpine Garden to the lee at the base of the final summit cone. From there, the ascent was taking its toll on thegroup. We started up the summit cone but the pace was slowing. At that point we made the decision to head back down.

I don't have too many pictures because my camera was not liking the cold. It was a challenging day in the mountains and Heros and Terry did well for their first experience getting within 7/10 of a mile from the summit in cold and windy conditions.

 

Sunday Feb 18, 2007

The Dike

Today I went to the Black Dike with Bruce. It's rare to have a day where snowshoes are an important tool to climb the dike but today was such a day. We were the 3rd party to approach today but the snowshoes were still helpful on the approach. The climb was in good shape in it's typically thin way. It appeared no one had been up there since the storm

After climbing the route today we did the walk-off. There were two parties ahead of us so we followed the broken out trail. Suddenly I realized we were not on the standard descent but we were commited to the broken out trail at that point. I am not positive but I think we climbed too high before we headed left. That put us to the south of the summer trail. We followed the previous parties tracks to a small stream bed. The snow was exceptionally deep and the going slow, some would call it a thrash. We ended up coming out at the Lafayette Place Campground about 10 minutes south of where the normal descent hits the bike path. If you do the dike anytime soon, be aware that the broken out trail from today may not be the easiest way. If you do try to find the summer trail you also need to be aware that you will be in deep snow, it's your call!

Once we hit the campground, I left my pack with Bruce and went to get the car. At this point it was snowing hard. It had been snowing all day but now it was really coming down. I was surprised to see how much snow had fallen today. There was 4 to 6 inches of snow on the car! When I drove back to North Conway virtually no snow had fallen. All in all it was a good day with a nice woodland snowshoe as a bonus!

A snowy 1st pitch

The steep section after the rock traverse

The yellow ice of the 3rd pitch

Topping out in the snow

4 to 6 inches of new snow in Franconia Notch today

 

Saturday Feb 17, 2007

Stemming on the Hobbit

What a beautiful day to ice climb. How ironic on Thursday it was one of the hardest days at Frankenstein because of the conditions. Today was one of the best. It was a classic high quality February day with sun, moderate temperatures, and fat ice! I was climbing today with Bruce. We got to Frankenstein pretty early but there were already quite a few cars in the lot. We hiked down the tracks and when we got to the trestle I could see that Bob's didn't have anyone on it. We headed right over to there and did a ascent of that then Bruce top roped the left side. We pulled our ropes as another party's leader was about halfway up the normal route. Not bad by 10 AM two parties had done Bob's!

After Bob's Delight we crossed back over the trestle and headed up to the Amphitheater. Hobbit Couloir was free so that was next on the agenda. After doing that climb, we hiked down and did the Rock Finish. The Amphitheater was getting busier and there were climbers on most lines. We hiked down and the steep right side of Chia was open so we climbed to the top of that route. After another hike down we climbed the right side of Pegasus.

The climbs in the Amphitheater are pretty fat and with all the climbers there today, all the trails are well broken out. The biggest news is that the Widows Walk area is hanging in there (pardon the pun). The column is just touching down and may solidify in a couple of days. If it doesn't get too warm or sunny for awhile and it does get solid, we might get to climb this rarely forming climb.

Two parties climbing Bob's

Widow's Walk just touching

A full Fankenstein parking lot

Friday Feb 16, 2007

Almost knee deep on the tracks

Yesterday was the typical post storm windy and cold day. When people down south are clearing, in the mountains the wind is kicking up and the NW flow brings in the cold air. Often the post-storm day feels stormier than the storm day, it just has less precipitation.

Dave, Phil and I headed back to Frankenstein. We were the first to hike down the tracks and the wind had filled in the trail from the previous day. That meant trail breaking. We were also the first group (and only it turns out) into the Amphitheater. More postholing!! Once we made our way to Pegasus, we climbed up towards the rock finish. The ice was rock hard and with the snow on top it was also very cold on your hands. This was one of the hardest days of ice climbing I have had this season all due to the conditions. I am not really complaining because it is great to finally have snow. It has been a long time seeing how last year was a pretty dry winter.

Climbing to the start of the rock finish pitch

No postholing here!!

 

Wednesday Feb 14, 2007 Valentines Day!

Climbing in the blizzard

Well the Nor'easter hit and we got a lot of snow. I haven't measured but it is significantly over a foot. I spent today at Frankenstein on Standard Route. It may seem backwards but I went to Frankentein with Dave and Philip to teach them how to ice climb after climbing Central on Mount Washington yesterday. They both had done some mountaineering in the Cascades so Central made sense but usually I would give people some practice before heading onto Mount Washington. With this storm in the forecast however if we hadn't gone to Mount Washington yesterday we would never have had the chance to climb there.

We started by climbing to the cave then rappelling down. We climbed up again going through the window then rappelled again. We started up a third time climbing the first two pitches of the normal route in one long pitch. We rappelled and called it a day. It was snowing hard all day and you spent as much time clearing off the snow as you did climbing. Numerous small avalanches (sloughs) came down throughout the day on the route. Fortunately Standard doesn't have a steep slope above it like Waterfall does or much bigger slides could come down.

As we left it was remarkable to see piles of avalanche debris at the base of Waterfall and the Trestle Practice Slabs. They were narrow, about fifteen feet wide but were over six feet deep. The one at the Practice Slabs were bigger and could almost bury someone, this is on the railroad tracks!

With the wind tomorrow we could see a continuation of this avalanche cycle so be careful of what is above you on the climbs because the avalanches today would have knock someone off of Waterfall or the Practice Slabs.

Dave exiting out the Window

Topping out on the final lap

 

Tuesday Feb 13, 2007

Bob's Delight

I can't believe it has been a week since I last wrote. The winter is starting to catch up with me. After a few days off, I taught an avalanche course on Saturday and I have been climbing yesterday and today. I wanted to write yesterday but ended up not having the time so today's report will be a twofer.

Yesterday I went to Frankenstein to climb with Debbie and Sharon. We started by doing Bob's Delight. Bob's is one of my favorite climbs. Sunny and well protected from the wind, it is just the ticket for a cold, sunny day. After that we headed over to Standard. There were a couple of parties on the route so we started by doing the Window Route. After doing that we rappelled down and climbed near the center of the flow to the Cave. There was still a party just leaving the Cave so we rappelled again. On the third trip I led left of center and did the first two pitches as one. From the top of that pitch we did the last pitch and walked off. It was a good day but it still was cold, never getting out of the mid-teens all day.

Today I was climbing with Phil and Dave. The goal was to take advantage of the calm before the storm and climb Central then head to the summit of Mount Washington. Again it feels pretty cold for mid February but the wind did die down some and it started out pretty sunny. The summit had temperatures around --6 but the wind was only mid thirties.

Going in and coming out the Window

It looks like we are in for a big storm tomorrow. This one might measure in feet in the mountains. It looks like ski season is about to start and none too soon at that. This will go a long way to filling the backcountry runs and may help save the late winter, early spring backcountry season. The thing to remember though is that we have had a cold shallow snowpack so far. A big storm could create a pretty big avalanche cycle. There may be some paths that will run that are not the regular performers. Watch out for that urge to get out there too quickly. We may have to let this settle a bit in the backcountry. For the next few days at least, lift service skiing may be the order of the day or a quick hit on the Sherburne Ski Trail. Have fun and I hope this snow creates more fun for you than hassle. It will soon be time to ski!!!

 

 

Climbing to the Cave on Standard

Central Gully

Pretty good snow climbing up the Huntington Fan

Above the bulge on Central

Nearing the top of Central

The view from near the top of Central

The summit photo

Odell's

Thin snow cover in South, but not for long!

Yale

A fat Pinnacle Gully

Tuckermans before the storm

 

Tuesday Feb 6, 2007

Looking down Chia

Well the cold continues! It's funny to think that 3-4 weeks ago people were worried that ice would never form because of the warmth. I tend to worry when I see an extreme in the weather because I know eventually it will average out. My guess is we will end up with nearly average temperatures. Now we are having below normal precipitation I fear we will see a rainy spell sometime this year so we will average that out. Maybe the precipitation will happen soon so we can get some snow for the late winter early spring backcountry ski season.

Yesterday I was climbing with Coby over at Frankenstein. Coby had no outdoor climbing experience. I first met him when we skied together and we found out we have mutual running friends. Coby is a strong runner and a very athletic person. I decided to give Coby an aggressive start to climbing and I knew that given the temperatures we would have to keep moving at a pretty good pace all day to stay warm. Because of the wind, I decided to head to the most protected part of Frankenstein, the Amphitheater. We went over to Cave Route. Too bad it was not sunny yesterday because Cave is south facing and with the lack of wind I am sure it would have been relatively warm there, but yesterday was cloudy. Coby top roped the climb a couple of times and was picking up the technique pretty fast.

After the coaching on Cave we headed to Chia and Coby climbed that well. From there we headed to Rock Finish. Coby was now going to get not only his first taste of ice climbing but also some rock climbing as well! Coby did well on that climb so we hiked back down and did Pegasus. It's amazing how the cold is an incentive to keep your pace up and Coby's running background gave him the endurance to keep right up. Good thing he was new to climbing because as his technique gets more efficient, I won't be able to keep up!

The climbs in the Amphitheater are for the most part getting bigger. There are a few exceptions. They happen to be the climbs that came in first, Hobbit and Rock Finish are both dry and are looking pretty well climbed. One climb to watch over the next couple of days if we continue with cold, cloudy weather is Widow's Walk. Wouldn't that be nice if it comes in!

Topping out on the peg out ice of Rock Finish

Coby finding the small foot holds on his first rock climb!

 

Sunday Feb 4, 2007

Treeline on the Winter Lion's Head Trail

It seems that late January and early February want to make up for the warmth of the early winter. It was a cold day today in the mountains. Doug, Rob, and I had plans for a Mount Washington summit attempt. The Mount Washington forecast sounded cold with temperatures well below zero and winds over 50 mph. The three of us geared up for an arctic ascent knowing that we would have to keep a strong pace if we were to be successful.

Yesterday was the first day that the USFS Snow Rangers opened the Winter Lion's Head Trail and closed the Summer Trail. Fortunately a number of people went up yesterday so the trail was well packed. I was wondering if we would ever get enough snow to need the Winter Trail this year, finally we have. I don't know the statistics but this has to be one of the latest dates of the switch over. We made it all the way through January before needing to change over, amazing!

Before we reached treeline we geared up for the wind. We were happy to find only light winds once we broke out, but the cold made us happy to be as dressed as we were. The wind was blowing but it did not affect our ability to walk. The light wind lasted to just before the summit of Lion's Head. We took a break before hitting the stiffer wind on the summit of Lion's Head and prepared to walk quickly the two tenths of a mile across the Alpine Garden to the base of the summit cone where the wind dies again.

From this point we have just under a mile to go with about 1000 feet of elevation gain. The next half mile had light winds again but the lee in that area builds a significant snowpack that required some trail breaking. The wind picked up again when we reached the upper junction of the Tuckerman Ravine Trail. With a half mile to go we put our heads down and marched that section out. The wind was very cold but again we were able to walk with little difficulty.

When I got back from the climb today, I checked the hourly observations from the summit. What we had experienced on the summit was --11 temperatures with a 64 mph wind. Today was a great day to experience arctic conditions without having to travel to one of the poles. Mount Washington gives experienced climbers and winter mountaineers the unique ability to experience the severity of arctic weather. This has helped numerous eastern mountaineers to train and prepare for difficult conditions found on the great ranges around the world. I know in my case I have called upon the experiences I have had on Mount Washington to help overcome difficult situations. Mount Washington is a great resource and the ability to venture into difficult situations that are so accessible are a gift we need to cherish. It is also something we need to protect and respect with cautious use, working hard to be mentally and physically prepared for the very real dangers that exists in our home range.

Doug and Rob in the entrance to the summit building

Descending the summit cone

 

Saturday Feb 3, 2007

Doug focusing on his feet doing the second pitch of Pegasus

Doug, Rob, and I headed back to Frankenstein today. I wanted to get over to Bob's Delight but it was already taken so we made our way to the Amphitheater. We were the first party into the Amphitheater and we busted trail through the 6-8 inches of new snow. I setup the far right side of the first pitch of Pegasus as a top-rope. This leaves all the climbs open and is pretty much out of the way of ice fall. I led up and found the ice to be in difficult condition. It seems all this cold weather has made the ice brittle and there was a new aerated layer on the surface that kept shattering off. Both Doug and Rob top-roped that section a couple of times. We worked pretty hard on technique and both of them were doing well developing the muscle memory of steep ice technique. Once we had finished the top rope, I headed back up and belayed them up off the top rope anchor. From there, we did a second pitch up the right side of the Pegasus column.

This was the busiest I have seen Frankenstein this year. There were 2 parties on Pegasus, climbers on Chia, Hobbit, Rock Finish, Cave, Bob's, and Smear. As soon as one party would finish a route another would start up it. We never left the Amphitheater so I don't know what was happening over towards Standard or Dracula and it's anyone guess what it was like on Willard. I know Huntington and Tuckermans had "High Avalanche Hazard" today so I assume very few if anyone was over there. It appears the word is out that the ice is in and today it seemed the pent up demand was evident.

After Pegasus, we headed over to Smear. We climbed it by going to the tree on the far left side at the end of the first pitch. From there, we finished up the second pitch then rappelled off. Going that way on Smear is the lowest angle way to climb it. The final section of the first pitch to the tree requires some thin ice climbing and rock climbing. It's not too hard but does take some time. The start of the second pitch was thin and short screws would not go all the way in. The pitch stayed this way for about 25-30 feet then it eased off and got thicker. Climbing Smear by its steeper variations looked pretty fat.

 

Friday Feb 2, 2007

Doug and Rob on Willey's

Well today is Groundhog Day, halfway through winter. In some ways it seems like winter just started. I look forward to Groundhog Day every year; the ice is the thickest and the days get longer. February is the sweet spot of winter and this year it seems that this is as true as ever.

I spent today climbing with Doug and Rob. Both have rock climbed before but neither had ice climb. It was a great day weather wise so we headed up to Crawford Notch. Our first objective was Willey's Slide. I hadn't been to Willey's lately and was happy to see how thick it had gotten. After a little crampon practice at the base, the three of us headed up the route. There is very little snow on the route and the ice was very hard. My impression was that although Willey's is in, it was as hard to climb as I can remember it has ever been.

After climbing Willey's, we headed over to Frankenstein. The three of us did a ascent of Standard's first two pitches and then rappelled down. Frankenstein is in good condition with all the normal routes in.

Jay Philbrick went up to Mount Washington to do some skiing today, here is his report:
The Tuckerman Ravine Trail is in pretty good shape for skinning now though there are still a fair number of rocks sticking out throughout its length. The Sherburne Ski Trail as of today is in excellent shape with good snow. There is just barely enough snow on it to cover all the rocks. There are a lot of weeds sticking through and the water bars are quite abrupt. But, the skiing is great and the run down is well worth the skin up.

Higher up the news is not as good. In Tuckerman Ravine it looks more like November than February. There is still very little snow to be found. The only runs even close to considering are Left Gully and The Chute. Everything else is brush, rocks, or ice. The Headwall area is still more climbing terrain than skiing terrain. Forget about skiing down to Hermit Lake. The Cutler River is open in many places and the Little Headwall is still open and the run below that is thick with brush. The Gulf of Slides Ski Trail is also a no-go.

A party starting up Willey's

Doug on the 2nd pitch of Standard

Rob on the 2nd pitch of Standard.

 

Thursday Feb 1, 2007

Mount Madison from treeline on the Osgood Trail

Yesterday I went for a trail run/hike. I had a few days off and and this week seemed like a good time to do something I have been wanting to do for awhile. I have day hiked pretty long distances above treeline in the winter before but I have always done it in spectacular weather. I had always wondered if light weight fast hiking was possible in real winter weather. What I wanted to do was a winter Presidential Traverse but spotting cars etc. was not possible seeing I would be alone. What I came up with was a loop traversing over the Northern Presidentials including Mount Washington from the AMC Pinkham Notch Camp. I would start on the Old Jackson Road to Madison Gulf Trail across the Osgood Cutoff to the Osgood Trail then across the Gulfside Trail then down from Mount Washington via the Lion's Head Trail. Here is a pdf map. (This will dowload in a new window and may take awhile.)

Because of the shallow snowpack I was able to run the first 4.7 miles. This brought me to the Osgood Trail about 2.5 miles from the summit of Mount Madison. From there I starting hiking as fast as I could uphill to treeline. At treeline I geared up for the wind took some pictures and started the traverse of the Northern Presidentials. The wind did begin to pick up as I approached Madison and the footing got more difficult. I could tell then that the traverse was going to be a bit slower than I had hoped. When I reached the top of Madison there were two people on the summit. These would be the only people I would see all day except for one person just before Pinkham.

From Madison I descended quickly to the Madison Hut then continued on the Gulfside Trail to Thunderstorm Junction. At this point I did a quick there and back to summit Adams. On my descent to Edmunds Col I hit some deep snow that was slowing me down and tiring me out. Even a short section of thigh deep snow would nearly halt me. At this point I put my MSR snowshoes on and kept them on all the way to Mount Washington. The footing was icy in most places but those short sections of blown in snow made me keep the snowshoes on. The aggressive points on the MSR shoes handled the ice well and the snowshoes seemed like the best compromise.

The trip up Jefferson was uneventful as was the descent down to Sphinx Col. The climb up Mount Washington was grueling but went reasonably quickly. From the summit of Washington I took off the snowshoes and was able to jog down to the Hermit Lake Shelters. At Hermit Lake I stopped to remove some clothing and then continued my jog to my car at Pinkham.

This was a difficult trip and it helped me get a better understanding of how fitness, mobility and your goal is affected by equipment. I wanted to better understand the difficult balance between equipment, mobility and safety. I have been training by trail running for the last couple of years and wanted to see if it was possible to bring that trail running mindset to the winter. I know the low snow year we are having was critical to a trip like this.

Safety is an important factor on all mountaineering trips. There is no doubt that with light equipment your ability to wait for a rescue is limited. On the other hand your speed is enhanced, so getting to and descending an escape route is also enhanced. A light pack also decreases the chance of falling or injury in a slip particularly in windy weather. That however does not mean it is impossible to get hurt, just less likely. Therefore it would be foolish not to have some plan. The balance between these things is affected by your fitness as well. One must be fit enough to take advantage of the light gear or the whole system breaks down. This is the balance we all have to make in the mountains, what to carry, and choosing the right trip for your ability is the critical balance we must strike as mountaineers

Here are the statistics;

Trails:	Old Jackson Road, Madison Gulf, Osgood Cutoff, Osgood, Gulfside, Lion's Head
Type of Trip:	Loop
Distance:	18.5
Elevation Gain and Loss:	6870 feet
Time:	7 hours 53 minutes

The Pack

To give you an idea of what I carried here is a list;
This is what I wore to treeline
Footwear Garmont Flash XCR with Kold Kutter traction screws
Wool socks
Gaitors
Patagonia Cold Weather Tights
Polertec Tights
Med Weight Long Sleeve Cool Max Shirt
Light Pile Zip Tee
Wild Things Wind Shirt (no hood)
Light Gloves
Buff Headband

This is what I put on for the above treeline section
WildThings EP Hooded Jacket
Dachstein Wool Mittens
Warm Hat
Neck Gaitor
Marmot Precip Pants

This is what I had in my EMS Aqua Day Pack
Patagonia Micro Puff Jacket
Patagonia Micro Puff Pants
Marmot Precip Jacket
Petzl Headlamp
Garmin Geko GPS with the Route and Escape Routes Programed In
National Geographic TOPO Map with the Route and Escapes Routes on it
Cell Phone
Lighters
Spare Batteries
MSR Denali Snowshoes
Camera
Balaclava

Here are the conditions on the summit of Mount Washington during my time above treeline

Time	Temperature	Wind	Weather
4 PM Jan 31	--5	W 54 mph	blowing snow; freezing fog
3 PM Jan 31	--5	W 47 mph	freezing fog
2 PM Jan 31	--5	W 39 mph	freezing fog
1 PM Jan 31	--5	W 40 mph	freezing fog
Noon Jan 31	--5	W 51 mph	light snow; blowing snow; freezing fog
11 AM Jan 31	--5	W 53 mph	light snow; blowing snow; freezing fog

Looking back at Adams from Edmunds Col

Under the overcast on the way to Sphinx

The Southern Presidentials from Monticello Lawn

The summit of Mount Washington