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View Full Version : Spring Day in the Whites - Franconia Ridge Trail



peakbagger
04-10-2017, 10:22
A few shots from the Franconia Ridge trail from yesterday 4/10/17.

The sign is the junction of the Franconia Ridge Trail (the AT) and the Falling Waters Trail on Haystack Mtn. Its the beginning of the above treeline stretch of the FRT. The mountain is Mt Lincoln. I didn't take a lot of shots along the ridge as the winds were high enough to make travel interesting.

I used snowshoes pretty much all day, as much for the traction as for the flotation.For those not familiar with technical snowshoes, there is very handy modification call Televators. When climbing up slopes, there is a steel hoop that can be clicked up and ends up under the heel to elevate it so the snowshoe is roughly horizontal even though the slope is tilted. It makes climbing slope a lot easier. They can be clicked in and out as needed as on the flat and level they can really slow things down.

As I mentioned on another thread there is still snow from the trailhead to the top and the depth in the woods can consistently get over 6'. There was a cold stretch so the snowpack was pretty solid but in the next few weeks the snow turns "rotten" from day to night freeze thaw. The depth doesn't change that much but the ice crystals get larger and eventually if you step off to the side of the trail, its can be very painful experience as your leg may go in more than crotch deep. Where the hikers have been hiking all winter the trail turns into a lump of compressed snow that lasts far longer than the snow in the woods, eventually the rotten snow on either side will diminish and what remains is solid lump of ice with a curved top with a couple of foot drop to the rotten snow on either side. Locals call it the "monorail" It usually coincides with mud season down below so I pretty well stay out of the woods until its all gone and dried up

colorado_rob
04-10-2017, 12:12
Gorgeous! Thanks for sharing. We're going to start bagging peaks out here in CO in a few weeks, all on snow still, of course, which actually makes a lot of peaks a lot easier to climb. We use those heel raisers on our MSR lightning shoes all the time....

4eyedbuzzard
04-10-2017, 14:34
The seasons in NH are definitely well defined

One sunny 60° day in mid October from a slightly different angle on Haystack

39021

Your photo

39022

TJ aka Teej
04-10-2017, 18:14
Thanks for the great tr, peakbagger

peakbagger
04-10-2017, 18:20
Give it a few weeks and 100s of folks (many poorly prepared) will be making the loop I did on Sunday one every nice weekend day. Greenleaf Hut opens for caretaker season on May 5th. There was some there on Sunday with the tunes turned up and they were running the generator.