| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Carter Ledge, Middle Sister, Mt. Chocorua, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Piper Trail, Nickerson Ledge Trail, Carter Ledge Trail, Middle Sister Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, December 14, 2025 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Lots of parking. Lot was plowed. 5$ fee per car without an America the beautiful pass. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Ice - Black, Snow - Trace/Minimal Depth, Ice - Blue, Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow - Unpacked Powder |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Light Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Noteworthy water crossings had bridges |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Two downed trees to step over. Both were easy stepovers (including for 5'1'' participants wearing snowshoes) |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
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 | Bugs: |
None! |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Going up via Piper to Carter Ledge was snowshoes all the way. Light trail breaking. The trail vacillated between snow and rock when "treeline" was cleared, and largely continued that way between middle sister summit until you pass the southern sister and are pushing up the final ascent of Chocorua. There was enough snow that snowshoes seemed like the right anwser.
Heading up the summit of Chocorua, there were definitely places where you wanted snowshoes, but they were intermixed with stretches of exposed rock. Some of us wore microspikes. Some of us battered our snowshoes. There wasn't a perfect answer, but if you can afford to take the beating to your snowshoes, that was probably the best solution up to the point of the final scramble/summit of Chocorua (that was definitely microspikes and not snowshoes).
We had originally planned to come down Liberty trail, but that appeared to not be broken in at all, so we opted to go back via Piper, which was broken in and easy going. |
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 | Name: |
Human Biped |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2025-12-16 |
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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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