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Ski
Hiking Trail Conditions Report
Peaks
Peaks Mt. Webster, Mt. Jackson, NH
Trails
Trails: Webster Cliff Trail, Webster-Jackson Trail, Elephant Head Spur
Date of Hike
Date of Hike: Saturday, January 5, 2019
Parking/Access Road Notes
Parking/Access Road Notes: I parked in the lot almost directly across the street. Third or fourth car in at 8:30. Second to last one out at 5:30. When I arrived, two ice climbers were about to head up Shoelace.  
Surface Conditions
Surface Conditions: Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Ice - Breakable Crust, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow/Ice - Monorail (Stable), Snow/Ice - Monorail (Unstable) 
Recommended Equipment
Recommended Equipment: Snowshoes 
Water Crossing Notes
Water Crossing Notes: None of any consequence  
Trail Maintenance Notes
Trail Maintenance Notes: Only blowdowns I recall were on the section of Webster Cliff Trail between Webster and Jackson. There were enough to make it a drag in once section and many were difficult to negotiate. They were very small though. Trimming their limbs/twigs would help a lot. I tried to break them with my hand but they were too alive for it to work much. I followed someone else’s snowshoe track mostly so I didn’t pay too close attention to the blaze but there was more blaze than I expected for a trail like this. It did seem like it was getting a bit old though.  
Dog-Related Notes
Dog-Related Notes: I would recommend the southern section of Webster Cliff Trail for a dog in the winter.  
Bugs
Bugs: Maybe some snowfleas?  
Lost and Found
Lost and Found: None that I recall strangely enough!  
 
Comments
Comments: What a grueling day! Not that many miles and the snow wasn’t as deep as I thought it’d be... I must just be out of shape. Great view today though!

I started in bareboots. Followed a well trodden trail for all of a few yards until it turned into one snowshoe track I believe. This diverged right at the jct right with Saco River Trail. Then I followed a snowshoe trench keeping an eye out for white blazes. I was probably sinking about 2 inches. About 3/4 mi in I donned my snowshoes and a man in MSRI Lightning Ascents passed me. There wasn’t much snow to pack down and we’re still benefitting from the supportive crust underneath. Snow depth also didn’t increase like I thought it would until much later than I thought it would. I feel like one could have barebooted the first 1.8mi to the first lookout without making an awful postholed mess of things. From then on, snowshoes are a must but breaking trail wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

Recommended Equipement: I stayed in my snowshoes until I was going to come down Jackson where I switched to microspikes as my Beheameth XL snowshoes wouldn’t have done me any favors coming off of the steep summit cone. I brought an ice axe and full crampons (and you probably should too) but never used them. On some of the real steep, scramble sections I greatly struggled getting up them with my 35 inch snowshoes and slid back quite a bit. Crampons May have helped as there wasn’t as much unpacked powder here but I would have had to take them on and off constantly and I’m still not sure they would have worked well even with the minimal unpacked powder on top of the icy crust. My ice axe probably would have helped (as would having a second hiking pole...) but I was too lazy to get it out. Besides, if you had two hiking poles an ice axe really wasn’t necessary. I brought mine mainly for self arrest when crossing the rock slide (below tree line, hardly noticeable) mentioned in the description but it was totally unnecessary. I still felt safe though because even if I slid I wasn’t going very far. The guy ahead of me showed no sign of struggle in his Lighting Ascents and I think this would be by far your best bet. You could probably stay in them the entire time (including my descent which while okay to do in microspikes could benefit a bit from a touch more snowshoe traffic).

The sketchiest part of the southern Webster Cliff Trail for me was when it went VERY narrowly around a cliff with a drop that was at least a few dozen feet and there wasn’t much to stop you.

Balling on the microspikes was evidently a problem today (not for me though!). Snowshoes still recommended on the Webster Cliff Trail between Jackson and Webster, and, from what I hear, the Webster Branch. The former had some barebooters that sank just a couple inches generally with the occasional mid-deep posthole, so all in all postholing wasn’t too bad.  
Name
Name: Liam Cooney 
E-Mail
E-Mail: liamcooney96@gmail.com 
Date Submitted
Date Submitted: 2019-01-05 
Link
Link: https:// 
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