| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Lafayette, Mt. Truman, Mt. Lincoln, Little Haystack Mountain, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Old Bridle Path, Greenleaf Trail, Franconia Ridge Trail, Greenleaf Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, February 19, 2012 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Southbound lot full at 10AM. Parked at traditional northbound lot instead. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Ice - Blue, Snow - Drifts, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Snow/Ice - Postholes |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
On FWT, snow or iced bridged, but a few are bound to get blown out by barebooters. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
One 6" blowdown on FWT. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Horrible day to bring a dog up there - fortunately no one did. |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
While some of the other higher summits were already in the clear by early to mid morning, these didn't pop out until mid afternoon. As a result, navgiation above treeline was tricky.
I was able to snowshoe up Old Bridle Path with Tubbs Flex Alps with no issue. Generally packed powder, however there was one icy chute that was too much for MSRs on the ascent (at least one person took a good fall)...cautious descent would probably need crampons for this section.
Greenleaf Trail above the hut had lots of drifts. The normal ice area near the boulders was icy. Crampons a good idea for safe passage. Would be very dangerous to descend this short section in Microspikes. It turned a few people around.
The ridge had significant drifting in places. Coming off Lafayette, the trail was hard to find due to a snowfield covering most cairns/rocks. Quite a few people turned around due to this.
One or two potentially dangerous ice areas/no fall zones along the ridge. Some folks attemping to get up the south side of Lincoln in MSRs were slipping a lot. I wore crampons until the Gargoyles, then switch back to snowshoes.
Falling Waters Trail was generally packed powder, however there are three icy/scrambly areas at present that are too much for light traction. Looks like someone may have taken a bad fall off one of them.
Unfortunately a lot of unprepared folks out there. The winds and low visibility kept many out of the worst of it on the ridge, however I suspect they may have found the descent tough with no traction, etc. |
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 | Name: |
rocket21 |
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 | E-Mail: |
rocket21 at franklinwebpublishing dot com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2012-02-19 |
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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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