| Summary | |
| Owner | MITOC Gallery Administrator |
| Creation Date | 2004-09-16 00:44:02 UTC-0400 |
| Description | Trip Report: Mt. Moosilauke Winter Hike 01-19-03 White Mountains, New Hampshire MITOC Winter School 2003 Leaders: Deb Fraser, Rick Abbot Participants: Ed Chu, Alyssa Danigelis, Dan Feldkhun, Chris Glazner, Raj Krishnan, Jim Morash, Peter Russo, Andrew Yue, Bilal Zia We met to carpool from the MIT campus student center loading dock at 5:40 am, and were on the road a little after 6. It was completely dark and very cold. Felt like the middle of night, as if we were on a night mission. In fact, we were on the road for almost an hour before it started getting light out. I led the way in my red Ford Escort, looking ever so sporty with Hector's ski rack on top, and Dan in a Honda Civic zipcar and Jim in his jeep followed me very carefully. Every time I changed lanes, they would change lanes right behind me. I thought this was quite entertaining and impressive because I wasn't expecting them to follow me necessarily, as I had handed them printed directions before we left. I would learn later, that they were too lazy to read the directions, and felt it was easier to just follow me. Men, they're funny ;) After a two hour drive to Lincoln NH, we stopped for gas and a quick bathroom break, and then headed out to the Beaver Brook Trailhead in Kinsman Notch. Just before 8:30, we pulled up next to Rick's Jeep; he drove up on his own from northern MA. Then we unloaded and prepared for the hike. It was pretty cold. Probably somewhere around 5 degrees F if that, but thankfully wind still. Those who were ready first paced around to keep warm until the whole group was ready. We quickly introduced ourselves to the group, and set off to hike up the Beaver Brook Trail. The Appalachian Trail also follows along our designated route of taking the Beaver Brook Trail to Benton Trail to the summit. It starts off flat, and was well packed as it had been over a week since the last major snowfall. But it wasn't long before we came to a trail sign reading something to the effect of: "This trail is extremely steep and difficult. If you lack the experience, turn back and consider taking another trail." I shrugged and we moved forward. The guidebook describes this trail as by far the most arduous route to the summit. Not having hiked the it before, I didn't know there was a particularly steep trail up Moosilauke, which is known as the "gentle giant" of the Whites, since they re-routed Gorge Brook. Judging from the map, the "extremely" steep section is roughly only a mile to a mile and a half long, thus Rick and I thought the challenge of the terrain shouldn't be too much for the group and would definitely make the hike more interesting. Not to mention the exercise certainly warms you up quickly. We stopped before reaching the first major incline to put on crampons and de-layer. Then we headed uphill and soon learned that they weren't kidding. It was pretty steep, but nothing you can't handle if you are in shape. However, eager to tackle the terrain and keep the group moving, I made the common blunder of setting the pace too fast for the rest of the group. They corrected me on this quickly, and we took an easier pace with lots of short breaks. The hike was challenging, but everyone seemed to enjoy it with the beautiful winter surroundings. During one such break when the back of the group did not appear behind us after many minutes, it seemed that something might be wrong. I told the front group to continue upward slowly or hike back and forth to keep warm, but not to cover significant distance, while I headed down to check on the back. (This is where radios come in handy, I need to get some new ones). After proceeding down about 5 steep slopes I came to the back of the group, Rick helping Raj with one of his crampons. After much effort, it seems they could not get the strap to hold on his boot, and he opted to hike in one crampon, as this terrain was snowy enough to get away with it, although it definitely slowed him down. Andrew, who was close by, volunteered to kick in steps in the snow with his plastic boots, in front of Raj, to make it easier for him to scale the slopes. The situation in hand, I hiked quickly back up toward the front of the group -- you really get your exercise in hiking the slopes twice. The trail followed to the left of the Beaver Brook cascades which were frozen and completely covered with snow. Steadily we gained ground, and looking behind us, we saw our first view from the mountain of Kinsman and Franconia Ridges to the northeast. As we progressed, it was quite awesome to look behind me and see members of the group hiking up the steep slope with a backdrop of the mountain ridgelines in the distance behind them. At the higher elevations, larger amounts of snow were clumped on the large pine trees. It was truly a winter wonderland. Eventually we reached the trail sign for the Beaver Brook Shelter, which is accessed via a short path from the main trail. We took a longer break there. Several of the men wondered in one direction, deemed the "mens' room", to take a bathroom break, while I headed uphill to the "ladies' room". While waiting for everyone to finish, we refueled on trail snacks and water. Poor Ed, who wore backcountry cross country skiing boots because they were smaller than the old insulated "mouse" boots that MITOC rents, and hence he was able to fit newer crampons in better condition on them, learned the hard way that these boots were not insulated nearly well enough to make good winter hiking boots. Apparently his feet had gotten cold near the trailhead and it was quite painful when they warmed up as he started moving again. Thus from then on he was very careful not to let me them get too cold again. He had to keep his legs moving almost constantly. He would either hike slowly ahead waiting for the group during a break or swing his legs widely from the hip joint to keep the blood flowing. He said this worked well, but it was certainly more work. Not far after passing the shelter, we finally reached the Mt. Blue ridgeline where the trail starts to level off, marking about half the distance to the summit. The remainder of the hike would be on mild to moderate sloping terrain along the Mt. Blue ridgeline, side-swiping the Mt. Blue summit, and on up to the summit of Moosilauke. The ridgeline hovered just below treeline most of the way, with some large gaps giving us views of the Jobildunk ravine and of Moosilauke's summit. The sun was shining, and the pines were outlined with beautiful white snow. The further up we got, the more snow there was stuck on the trees. Until eventually we entered into what seemed to an enchanted forest of short white snow-caked trees. It was incredibly beautiful. We also saw some short patches of vertical ice and large icicles on the rock alongside the trail. I would learn later that at the back of the group Rick had talked about there being some major ice climbing somewhere in or near the Jobildunk ravine. A snowshoer had passed us near the shelter on the way up. We met him again on the trail when we were getting close to breaking treeline. He was taking off some layers, obviously on his way back down from the summit. Wondering if we should stop there to layer up, I asked him how much further it was until we broke treeline. He told us it was just around the bend, and that it was quite frigid on the summit, recommending that we put on extra layers if we have them. (Yeah, "if". He should have seen my extensive gear list for the trip). Thanking him, we stopped there to layer up for the summit push. Knowing that we would be facing borderline frostbite windchill conditions, I had everyone put on full facial garb, balacalvas with facemasks and googles, such that no skin was exposed, and do a buddy check to make sure they were covered. Then, we proceeded into the open. Above the trees, the ground was almost completely covered with hard, thick ice and some snow patches. The wind had blown most of the snow off. Moosilauke has a very rounded summit, completely bald of trees. As we walked up in our full winter garb, breathing into our googles and with big winter boots, on the white-gray, barren surface, it almost felt like we were walking on the moon in space suits. The trail was marked with a outline of small rocks that jutted out of the ice, and huge pillar cairns. Kate, who had removed her MITOC-rented crampons because they weren't staying on, was carefully making her way along the rocks so she did not slip. She had not brought hiking poles, so I lent her one of mine for more stability. Ed, Kate, Peter, Jim, Dan, and I were the first group to reach the summit. The sky was mostly clear with some scattered clouds and haze, but it was hard to see through my goggles, fogged from my breath. Estimated winds were around 20-30 mph. Estimated temperature around 0 to 5 degrees. Estimated windchill -15 to -25 degrees F, borderline frostbite on exposed skin in 30 minutes conditions. Thus, it is was not a place where you want to doddle too long. I tried to take some summit pictures with my digital camera, but had failed to keep my battery warm enough, and thus only got one haphazard photo. During one such photo attempt, although I knew better, I removed my overmitt shell to operate the camera, and held it to my side, under my arm, instead of leashing it to myself. When I moved my arm, the mit took flight into the wind. Luckily Ed, who was nearby, was able to grab it after it landed and hold it for me. Dan did a better job keeping his camera warm in his jacket pocket, and was able to take pictures of the group. A couple of people walked around to keep warm, and I switched camera batteries, while we waited for the rest to arrive. My effort was in vain however, as neither battery worked. Soon the second group, Bilal, Chris, Alyssa, and Rick, joined the summit party, Dan took another group picture, and everyone celebrated their success as winter warriors. In the distance, we saw our final group members Raj and Andrew slowly making their way toward the summit. Finally they arrived. Raj was having great difficulty on the icy terrain with only one crampon, and lack of experience traveling on the ice, but thanks to Andrew's patient assistance, he made it to the 4802 ft summit of Moosilauke. Dan took their picture, and with the increasing cloudiness from the snowy weather moving in from the southwest, and the early arrivals now starting to get cold, the group headed back down toward treeline. Someone needed to adjust their crampons, so I suggested to those nearby to gather around him to form a wind barrier while he worked. Once fixed, the rest continued down, while I looked back to make sure everyone was coming. I ran into Rick at end of the line of those walking, but Andrew and Raj were still back on the summit taking pictures. I told Rick, who usually prefers to guide at the back of the group, to go down with the rest to make sure they were all right, while I would stay and make sure Andrew and Raj made it down ok. When I joined up with those two, Raj was moving slowly and carefully as he was again having difficulty on the icy descent. Then he slipped and fell on his knee. The fall looked bad, and we worried that he was injured. Although stunned, he was not seriously hurt, and his leg still worked. He had been attempting to make the traverse with just one club-rented crampon (that probably hadn't been sharpened in quite awhile), and hunched with a ski pole in one hand, and a shorter ice axe in the other for leverage. I traded my second hiking pole for his ice axe so he would have better balance to stand straighter, and tried to give him some suggestions for gripping the ice better with his points. Finally he made it back down to the snow and trees. What a relief. Less than a mile below the summit, through openings in the trees, we could see that the snow clouds had moved in and now completely covered the summit, blocking it from view. We had good timing to get off the summit when we did. The clouds slowly rolled toward us, and it snowed lightly during our descent. The steep terrain on the Beaver Brook trail made for some excellent glissading. Ed was able to glissade on his feet, while several others had great fun going down on their behind. Although one had to be careful to stay on the path, for if you go over the edge, you could end up on a drop-off slope of very deep snow, or could easily bang into some trees. Raj, going much faster sliding down, at one point slid off the edge of the trail, and ended up in deep snow, up past his waist, on the slope of the hill. He had trouble getting out and back on the trail. Never in any serious danger, he put on a great show for us. We also noticed that there were now ski tracks going down the middle of the snow cover on the beaver brook cascades. Some people on backcountry skis had been through there while we were on the upper part of the mountain. We reached the trailhead by dusk around 5 pm, just barely needing to turn on the headlamp. Rick and I were the last to leave the woods, as we made sure everyone in the group made it safely back. We packed up and headed to dinner at the Woodstock Inn and Brewery. With good planning, preparation, teamwork, and luck, we had an amazingly successful trip considering the potential risks of faulty crampon equipment, and cold, changing weather. Mt. Moosilauke, 4802 ft. Our route via Beaver Brook and Benton Trails: 7.6 miles round trip, with 3100 ft elevation gain. View trip pictures at: http://www.wildmountain.net under "MITOC Trips" Deb |