| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
South Tripyramid, Middle Tripyramid, North Tripyramid, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Livermore Trail, Mt. Tripyramid Trail, Pine Bend Brook Trail, Scaur Ridge Trail, bushwhack, logging road |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, February 5, 2017 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Parked at Livermore Road lot - plenty of room this morning, but lots of cars upon our return. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow/Ice - Postholes |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Roughly three open crossings on the way to the south side, all hoppable. Crossing on Scaur is also somewhat open, but hoppable. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Mt. Tripyramid, Pine Bend Brook, and Scaur Ridge all very brushy. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
South slide not recommended for dogs in winter. Not sure what the policy is for dogs on Livermore Trail in winter. |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Livermore Trail is groomed until a fraction of a mile before the south Mt. Tripyramid Trail junction. We wore snowshoes to minimize the impact on the groomed surface for paying skiers/fatbikers.
The Livermore Trail to the south Mt. Tripyramid Trail junction had a good snowshoe footbed, as well as a separate nordic ski track.
I liked the look of the snow conditions, so we opted to ascend the south slide. The traverse to the base of the slide had been booted, but there was a few inches of powder that allowed for good snowshoeing and trail repair. Some very deep postholes in a few places though. Multiple feet of snowpack.
South slide had a hardpack base with about 3-6" of powder on top. Someone had amazingly buttslid and Microspiked the whole thing. I'm amazed they didn't break a leg, as one descending posthole looked to have caught a boot under a rock some 2 feet deep. The buttslider also may not have noticed that they buttslid near some fractures in the snowpack...probably not an avalanche risk per se, but perhaps a good snowslide nonetheless.
Regardless, our Flex Alps provided adequate traction for the ascent. I don't think I would have been comfortable in my MSRs. I would have a mountaineering ax if descending. Perhaps the most dicey part was the top portion of the slide, at and above the Sleeper junction. Doable, but a no fall zone. Some tracks heading toward Sleepers, but perhaps a little old.
Above there was initially challenging due to postholers.
Some nasty postholes between South and Middle, where a postholer discovered how easy and deep a spruce trap can be without snowshoes.
From Middle northbound, the trail is very well packed. Snowpack on the ridge is probably about 4 feet deep. A few portions of Pine Bend Brook are getting beaten up by buttsliders, revealing the only ice we saw all day.
One more snowfall will completely hide the Scaur Ridge trail sign. Scaur Ridge had a decent snowshoe track. Shortly after passing over the water crossing, we bushwhacked in open woods down to the old logging road, then generally followed it (occasionally going uphill to avoid spruce or blowdowns) all the way to the north Mt. Tripyramid Trail junction. Firm hardpack base with a nice helping of powder on top making for good going on snowshoes. Barebooters need not apply unless they want to posthole up to their nether-regions. This shortcut saves a good half a mile.
The balance of the hike was smooth sailing on packed footbed back to the other junction.
Saw no other snowshoers the entire day. Amazing.
Weather was better than forecasted during the day, including some periods of blue sky and sun. Snow appeared to arrive after 4 PM. |
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 | Name: |
rocket21 |
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 | E-Mail: |
rocket21@franklinwebpublishing.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2017-02-05 |
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 | Link: |
 https://www.franklinsites.com/hikephotos |
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Disclaimer: Reports are not verified - conditions may vary. Use at own risk. Always be prepared when hiking. Observe all signs. Trail conditions reports are not substitutes for weather reports or common sense. |
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