| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Kearsarge, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Road walk, Winslow Trail, Barlow Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Saturday, January 26, 2019 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
The end of Winslow House Road (access road to the park) is gated for the winter, but the end of the road before the gate is plowed and sanded and there is room for 6-7 vehicles in that area. There is also room along the north side of Kearsarge Mountain Road and Twist Hill Road for any overflow. As other folks have posted on here before, don't park on the south side of either Kearsarge Mountain Road or Twist Hill Road -- heed the multiple "No Parking on This Side" signs, or you'll get a $20 ticket. Yes, we saw a couple of cars ticketed today on Kearsarge Mountain Road, even though there was plenty of room to park on the other side of the road. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Ice - Blue, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Light Traction, Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Not an issue. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
The same three step-over blowdowns from the past couple of months are still on the Winslow Trail, within the first few tenths of a mile. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Typical conditions for this mountain when a rain event/warm weather follows good snow coverage, and is followed itself by cold temperatures: lots of blue ice on the Winslow Trail, with some chopped hardpack in between, bare rock up top, and then deep snow almost everywhere on the Barlow Trail just past the ledges. We used light traction and traction on the way up, and snowshoes on the way down after the ledges.
The one of us who wore traction on the Winslow Trail didn't want to bother with working around the sections of really thick blue ice -- it was just easier to walk up without any real concerns about foot placement. Also, if you decided to head down Winslow, traction would be advisable.
We'd never been out on a day when it was this busy with these conditions: so many people were unprepared and turned around at the blue ice sections on Winslow Trail, or struggled through it with light traction with the intent of going down the Barlow Trail, only to struggle again with the deep, unbroken snow on that trail because they didn't have snowshoes.
Nice powder on the Barlow Trail -- deep and fun to fly down that way in snowshoes.
FUN FACT: we saw several people heading down the Barlow Trail, postholing in the deep snow past the ledges, while carrying snowshoes on their packs. It looked tedious and even painful. There's enough good, powdery, unbroken snow on the trail on either side of their postholes, so you can avoid them in snowshoes until the next snow dump forecast Tuesday/Wednesday of next week.
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 | Name: |
Pancks and Tesco Heaney |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2019-01-26 |
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 | Link: |
 https:// |
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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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