Franconia Ridge Loop

Had a break in my commitments at school and figured it'd be good to get up north for an adventure before things pick up again. I'd been eyeing the Franconia Ridge loop as an easy day trip that I hadn't made before. While my training has been relatively consistent compared to years past, I wasn't quite ready to go full bore on a mountain run. Instead, I set the goal of moving quickly but comfortably. I asked Ginger if she'd be willing to pace me for the loop and she enthusiastically agreed.

The weather forecast was sunny in the valley, but called for cooler temps and lingering fog at elevation. Wishful thinking had me hoping that things would clear up, but in reality I knew I was likely going to miss the views. The bonus was, it'd be much more comfortable than the 90F heat we've been having recently!

I opted for the counterclockwise loop, heading up Falling Water and descending via Greenleaf and Old Bridle Path, figuring this was the most practical route based on terrain features. The trails were busy, but not crowded, and I was able to move efficiently without too much delay, adding in periodic breaks for Ginger to grab water and for photos. As expected, not much for views, but was fun nonetheless. Certainly lots of room for improvement on the round trip time.

Franconia Ridge Loop
Splits:
Little Haystack 1:23
Lafayette 1:59
Greenleaf Hut 2:25
Trailhead 3:26

After a break this week, I'm planning to get more structured with my training, which will hopefully enable a few more northern running objectives before transitioning to ski season.

Late Season Scores

The 2015-2016 will go down as the winter that wasn't. A serious lack of snow combined with increased family and school commitments had me left with only the occasional morning resort laps. While those certainly made the weekdays more tolerable, I was ready to get out into the backcountry. Fortunately, my schedule lined up with Huff's enough to get in a weekday trip up to Mt. Washington. Despite it being well into spring, winter had made a comeback in the Whites, and the weather forecast held a high of 30F and wind. Combined with a bit of recent snow and wind loading, we weren't exactly sure what we'd find, but decided to get out and take a look for ourselves.

Hillman's from a distance

We left home after sunrise, and were hiking in our trail runners by a leisurely 9AM. After ascending into the bowl, we were able to get a better sense of the snow conditions. There was some minor wind deposit in and around the established bumps on the trail, but navigating around it seemed reasonable. 

Huff

Since neither of us had sharps, we resolved to kicking steps into the frozen crust. We hiked up to about the choke point of the gully, and made a decision to quit while we were ahead. The ski down was more survival than anything, crust and stiff wind buff. Not exactly ideal skiing, but at least we were able to get out there and enjoy the remaining snow.

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A couple weeks later, I had another window open up in my schedule. This time around, the weather was forecast for a more spring-like 60s in the valley and 30s up high, much nicer than our previous wintery experience. Since my usual partners weren't available, I had planned to go up solo, but shot a last minute email to JShefftz to see if he'd be roaming around up there as he so often is. Sure enough, he had plans to lap the NE snowfield before heading to Tuck's to catch LG on the way down. We decided to try for a rendezvous on the mountain.

My day trip schedule had me rising at 0300 to get an early departure from the Pinkham lot. Since I had to be back for daycare pickup in the evening, I knew I had to move fast. Luckily, I was on trail by 0730 and chugged my way up the TRT and Lion Head. Aside from a few choice photo ops, I kept moving in order to get as much in and still make my strict deadline.

View from LH (NE snowfields on the far right)

LG

Hillman's

Just before the transition to skins, I caught up to JS (guess I was moving fast), and we skinned over to the NE snowfields together. The snowfields were in excellent condition, with almost the entire potential run still in. It had snowed a few days earlier, and with the solar gain and reasonable temps, we caught perfect corn laps. After a few laps, I let Jonathan spin one more as I set to repairing an unfortunate equipment malfunction - my CAMP pack had torn at the bottom and required some McGuiver-like tape mending.

JS

"One good run deserves another!"

We traversed on skis back over to the top of the bowl, then hike around to LG. Somehow we beat the numerous hikers coming from the bottom and scored first tracks down the gully. Jonathan of course knew a crew climbing the bowl, and we stopped to briefly chat before enjoying the soft bumps to the bottom. Reminded of my need to get home for daycare, I booked it downhill, leaving my partner for the day to enjoy a few more laps of corny goodness. Somehow I beat my cut-off time and got on the road with almost 30 minutes to spare. Unfortunately even the best laid plans can be completely derailed by I-95 traffic. Luckily, daycare was very understanding!

Ouch.

Ollie decided to help me with
my post-tour stretching.

Springtime Westside action

With things firming up nicely on all three important fronts: schedule, snowpack, and weather, Cotton and I headed up Mt. W a few weeks back to grab turns in some previously unexplored terrain (for us, anyway). Having gotten some recent beta from a few other folks who have the luxury of mid-week trips, we decided to skin up the Ammo Ravine trail. With the forecast calling for 55F temps at the summit, we hoped to be speedy enough to drop in to Oakes before the sun baked it to complete mush, then proceed from there as the day allowed.

Though the Cog Railway parking lot was crowded, we essentially had the ART to ourselves, save a pair of groups on microspikes looking to hike up to the summit. We started our ascent under bluebird skies and the shade of pines, accompanied by the sweet music of the Ammonoosuc River. I've spent little time exploring this side of the mountain, and can say I was pleasantly surprised with the amazing views one gets for the first third of the hike. I can't count how many times I'd stop to take a picture, only to do the same five steps later when an even better opportunity came about. We finally decided this was the spot and grabbed a few posed ones for the wall at home:

Look at those shiny new boots!

Around halfway up the Ammo trail we transitioned to booting (though perhaps skinning would have been more efficient, given the postholing that went on) until we hit treeline. From there it was a smooth skin to the Lake of the Clouds Hut, where we ran into a few groups coming up from various other ascents. From the hut we traversed along the Dry River Trail to the edge of Oakes. We found a decent path somewhere in the central Gulf and skied in. The snow was heavy, but not a complete mess, and fortunately without much sluffage. (In hindsight, I think it's a better idea to summit Monroe, then ski from the top into Oakes.)

On the way up.

Cotton getting after it in central Oakes

From the bottom of Oakes, we skinned back out and found a quite place to eat lunch among the rocks. Cotton had leftovers from a family dinner the night before, so we feasted on gourmet pasta and lamb, washing it down with a pleasant local microbrew.

Skinning out

On a lunch break

After refueling, we decided to head to the summit and ski down from there. We followed the Tuckerman Ravine Crossover trail to the southeastern snowfields, then zig-zagged our way up to the top. After an obligatory summit pic, we skied back down the southwestern summit cone then across to Lake of the Clouds, then traversing to Monroe Brook. We were blessed with perfect spring snow and some mini-moguls on the way down MB. As an added bonus, we kept skis on all the way to the trailhead with only a few lurking hazards to nick our bases.

I've been told summit pics are required by state law.

Coming down the southwestern side

It was nice to get out and explore a new area, enjoy the day, and get a few turns. I'm excited to use this as a springboard to get into even more terrain in the coming seasons. Unfortunately, this might be the last of 2015 for me. Hoping next season brings as much snow as this one did!

Mt. Moosilauke

Following the brutal January doldrums, we finally got back on track with a string of classic winter storms.  A brief discussion for a day trip landed on Mt. Moosilauke.  We collected some info from various sources, and decided it would be a decent trip to attempt given the accumulations around the area and our interests in a new-to-us tour.

Moosilauke is draped in a long tradition of skiing, verging back on the Dartmout Outing Clubs early days.  If you're interested in reading more about it, both the DOC and Goodman's book have a nice summary of the rich ski culture surrounding the mountain.  It's so well known, that a less-than-outdoor inclined Dartmouth alum excitedly said to me "That's Dartmouth's mountain!" at the mere mention of it's name.  From our perspective, this seemed like a reasonable day tour, and despite it's 10+ mile distance, the total vert would be more than manageable.

In order to access the mountain in the winter, one must park either at the entrance to the Ravine Lodge road or at the base of the Carriage Road.  Either way, there's a decent flat run in before you start hitting contours.  Having parked and geared up at the Ravine road, we headed out on the 1.5 mile in-route toward our objective.  It was obvious from the line of cars, as well as the well packed skin track that we weren't the first to have this idea after the recent storms.

Ravine Road

Our initial plan was to ascend via Snapper to the Carriage Road, then skate the ridgeline to the true summit of Moosilauke.  The DOC does a great job of maintaining the area and trails are well labeled.  Several signs from the Ravine Lodge point climbers in the correct direction.  The Lodge itself is a thing of beauty, and though it is not open in the winter season, looks to be a great place to spend a night.  Almost makes me jealous of Dartmouth students...almost.

Posing with Moosilauke in background

Our trip up was rather uneventful.  The trail from the footbridge at the base of the mountain is fairly narrow, but had decent snow cover and was otherwise pleasant.  Snapper spits you out onto the Carriage Road, which is a bit wider (and thus better for the downhill).  From there the ascent travels up the eastern side of the South Ridge until summit hopping to the peak.  As we neared the top it was obvious the wind was moving pretty quickly above tree line.  Though most of the ridge was sheltered by short evergreens, the snow revealed numerous signs of wind-induced movement over the past few hours.

Carriage Road action shot

We opted to layer up and throw on our hoods just before hitting the treeline.  The summit snowfields apparently offer some decent skiing in a good season.  It was obvious from the get go that the windward side was pretty well scoured of any snow - mostly frozen hard stuff and rocky obstacles remained.  In scouting the lee side, I managed to find some of the vagrant snow and sufficiently bury myself about waist deep in a pile of it.  Unfortunately, the varying wind patterns and exposed trees didn't leave much room for carving up the cone, so we opted to summit and get out of dodge.

Gnarly summit

Cotton and Huff. It was windy.

As with any trip, good planning is important.  We had agreed to take our aforementioned route up with the hope of descending via Gorge Brook trail.  Despite the best of intentions, some outdated maps and faulty information from some other travelers led to a rapid change of plans.  Turns out, we missed the trailhead at the summit by about 10m (see GPS below).  Given that had at least scouted our previous route on the way up (and knew where it was!), we headed back down the way we came.

Just missed it.

The ski down was pleasant, although far from noteworthy.  The Carriage Road is almost wide enough to put some turns together, but it never quite gets there.  Quick feet and the occasional snowplow are the name of the game.  Once on the Snapper, it's true survival skiing.  I kept Cotton just barely in sight ahead of me in an effort to prevent any impact if he stopped short around a corner.  Despite the narrow path, it was a fun trip down to the Ravine Lodge.  We realized we'd need to skin back up to make the trip back to the car easy.  In the transition, we ran into a couple and their nice puppy, who apparently had lost his leash on the trek uphill.  Fortunately, Huff keeps 30 feet of paracord in his pack at all times and was able to fashion a leash for them.  Unfortunately, he didn't offer to have the dog pull us back to the car in return.  Needless to say, they were grateful nonetheless.

This looks familiar...

While the ski trails may not rival some others we've explored, certainly this is a great trip. And we learned a few lessons: double check to make sure you have updated maps (USFS are apparently more current than USGS) and you can't rely on others to guide you to the trail.  If one considers it more of a ski mountaineering objective, it's well worth the effort - a trip up Moosilauke puts you above 4000ft on a classic New England summit with incredible views in all directions.  Hopefully next time there's a bit more snow to enjoy once we're up there.  

Summary:

Easter Pilgrimage

It's spring in New England, but the snow is still holding on up north.  We decided this would be a good weekend to head up to Mt. Washington given the forecast of balmy 40 degree weather and stable snowpack.  While both Huff and Cotton have made the trek up to Tuck's previously, this was my first time in the ravine despite more than two decades of skiing in New England.  Needless to say I was excited to finally make it to what can only be described as a mecca of East Coast skiing.  I say this because every year thousands of folks make the trip up to Tuckerman Ravine, most lugging their equipment on their backs, to enjoy what the area has to offer.

Beautiful day

This weekend was no exception.  We got an early morning start, meeting well before sunrise to make the three hours drive up to the base of the TR trail.  By the time we arrived, the parking lots were already over flowing onto Rt 16.  Masses of people were readying their gear to hike, climb, and ski the ravine.  I had read previously that Tuck's is somewhat of an anomaly when it comes to the backcountry experience - it's not exactly solitude, but then again this is part of the allure.

Crowded ascent

Arriving at a packed Hojo's, we scoped the avy assessment for the day.  Generally, the theme was stay left - Hillman's Highway, the Left Gully and the Left Chute were all preferable risk-wise.  After some discussion, we decided to head into the bowl and check out the Gully.  Back on our skins, we sat in a traffic jam of a dozen kids hiking in with their father trying to get up the slope into the basin.  Luckily they were polite enough to let us sneak through.  Did I mention it was packed?

Safety was out in full force at the Hojo's

When we finally reached the floor of the ravine, we were greeted by a seasoned rescue volunteer.  He did a quick hand test on the snowpack below us, then joked to himself how it was meaningless given our location.  The highlight of our conversation came when he literally applauded our idea of hiking Left Gully with his mittens.  Despite his old-man humor, was nice to get confirmation of our route.  We hurried to beat a large group of people who were likely headed a similar direction and headed uphill.

Left Gully

Pretending my legs aren't on fire

The bootpack up was a bit of a slog.  The snow was actually fresh, which was a great sign for the way down, but made the climb up a workout.  We were also working in a line of folks all headed in the same direction which was both slowing us down and speeding us up, depending on their pace.  As we were making the ascent, I kept noticing spots of brown liquid on the ground below me.  Huff and I eventually realized that his beer had burst open in his pack and he was leaking stout all down his backside.  Fortunately, this was the only mishap of the day, unfortunately, it meant I was going to have to share my beer come lunchtime.  At the top, the weather shifted from pleasant 35 degree warmth to wind and cold, so we made quick work of getting our skis together and heading back down.

 At the top

One group, about 30 minutes ahead of us, ended up getting the first tracks, but there was plenty to go around. The snow for most of the run down was pleasant powder, allowing us to carve some nice turns along the way.  As if to remind us that this is New England, though, every once in a while we'd hit some slick hardpack and have to quickly find our edges again.  I tried to snap a couple action shots of the group with my less than adequate point and shoot.

Huff carving up the fresh

Cotton

We took a break for lunch, enjoying some salami and stout (is there a better ski meal?).  We ate to the backdrop of crowds on the ravine floor cheering on the folks sledding down the headwall.  Obviously everyone was having a good time.  After lunch, the wind picked up a bit, and we decided to get moving and hit the southern Chute variation before heading back down to the car.  We hiked about two-thirds the way up to a reasonable spot to switch our gear around, then enjoyed one more run in the powder before taking the Sherburne run-out.

Sun setting on a great day.

We were blessed with spring corn the rest of the way down, with a few bumps to remind us of the day's climb.  By the time we reached the car, we were in 50 degree t-shirt weather again.  All in all, a fantastic trip.  Good snow, good weather, and a fun crowd.  Likely our best day out this season, but hopefully not the last.

Distance:		7.89 miles
Elapsed Time:		5:59:03
Avg Speed:		1.3 mph
Max Speed:		22.5 mph
Avg Pace:		45' 30" per mile
Min Altitude:		1,995 ft
Max Altitude:		5,214 ft