| Summary | |
| Owner | MITOC Gallery Administrator |
| Creation Date | 2004-11-03 19:35:00 UTC-0500 |
| Description |
Franconia Ridge March 20, 2004 Mts. Lafayette, Lincoln and Little Haystack On Saturday May 20th, 2004, seven MITOC members traversed the Franconia Ridge, including Mount Lafayette, Mount Lincoln, and Little Haystack. We had a spectacular trip, on what proved to be a fateful weekend. The crew included Steve, Vu, Sgouris, Amy, Sam, Kahshin, and Christiaan. We left Boston bright and early, at 7am. After a little over 2 hours on the road and a quick re-fueling stop in Lincloln NH, we hit the trailhead at Lincoln Place. We started out around 9:45, heading up the Old Bridle Path, which follows the edge of the long, curving ridge leading to Mt Lafayette. Although there was lots of snow on the ground, it was pretty well packed on the trail, and we all went bareboot for the first few miles. We put on our crampons when the trail got steeper, but never encountered much ice on the whole trip. It was a cloudy morning, and by the time we got to the Greenleaf Hut, the wind had picked up, a light snowfall had begun, and the summit was covered in clouds. We didn't linger long at the hut, as it is closed in the winter, and provided less shelter from the wind than the nearby trees. Heading up the Greenleaf Trail from the hut towards the summit, the trees soon succumbed to altitude, and the trail became a maze of windblown snowdrifts and boulders. The large, ice-covered cairns guided us through the thickening clouds. By the time we reached the summit of Lafayette (5260'), it was nearly a whiteout - visibility less than 50 yards. After some discussion, we decided to push on across the ridge, as the trail was relatively well marked, we were confident in our navigation, and we were all had the appropriate gear. In a show of how quickly the weather can change, within half an hour, as we were well on our way across the ridge to Mt Lincoln, the sky began to clear. It seemed as if the snow clouds were dropping into the valley and evaporating, leaving us on the ridge between a layer of gray clouds above us and a puffy white ones below. While the wind kept whipping snow up and over the ridge, the sky kept clearing. By the time we reached the windblown summit of Mt Lincoln (5089'), the lower clouds had mostly disappeared from the valley, leaving a spectacular view to the West and North. To the Northeast, the low clouds remained around the Presidentials, with their bright white peaks poking through. We continued across the windy ridge, with Sam wearing the one pair of snowshoes we had brought and breaking trail through the rapidly re-forming snow drifts. We continued on to Little Haystack, where a party of four were digging in for a night above treeline - looked like fun! From Little Haystack, we descended the Falling Waters Trail. It was turned into quite a show as Steve demonstrated the benefits and risks of using his homemade mini-skis. He had welded them out of aluminum, and made a binding which attached to his boots with his crampon bails. The rest of us walked and/or glissaded down, trying to stay out of his way. That slippery fun was interrupted by a short detour to Shining Rock, where we discovered a spectacular (~80') slope of ice with a foot of power on top. A number of us practiced our ice climbing skills, using our hiking crampons and mountaineering ice-axes. It was loads of fun... especially sliding down the ice afterwards into the snowbank at the bottom (after removing crampons, of course). We made it back to the parking lot right as it was getting dark... a perfect ending to a wonderful trip with a strong crew. The clouds had come back, and a light, wet flurry was starting. After grabbing something to eat and warming up by the fire at the Common Man restaurant in Lincoln, we were ready to head back to Boston. Stepping outside, we were back in a blizzard! The drive back through New Hampshire was slow... 45 mph tops on highways covered with several inches of snow, and dreadful visibility. But by the time we reached Massachusetts, the snow had turned to sleet and then rain, the only benefit of which (in my humble opinion) was that it provided a much-needed car wash before arriving safely back in Cambridge at around 11PM. Little did we know that the snow we were driving through had trapped another group of climbers on Mt Lafayette that night. Two people who had also hiked up on Saturday apparently spent the night in a snow cave, and were found on Sunday. They were much luckier than a 43 year old couple who ascended Lafayette on Sunday for what was meant to be a day hike. As reported on the news, they, too, were apparently trapped near the summit by a sudden snow storm, and spent the night in a snow-cave. Unfortunately, they could not find their way down due to the continuing storm on Monday, and spent Monday night seeking shelter behind some rocks near the summit. They were finally found Tuesday morning. The husband was mildly hypothermic and disoriented, while his wife was unconscious and in a state of advanced hypothermia. They were airlifted off the mountain by rescue crews. The husband is now recovering, but the wife did not survive. This story should hit home as a sober reminder for all of us who climb in the winter, especially since they were a very strong couple, with extensive outdoor experience, including many previous winter climbs in the Whites. The mountains are an extremely serious place in the winter, and we must all be able to rely on our experience, our good judgement, and the support of our climbing partners. |