View Full Version : Winter in the Whites
Slo-go'en
12-11-2020, 17:09
The Whites got pounded with an early winter storm last weekend which dropped a lot of snow. Over a foot at my house. The weather finally cleared up enough today to make it worth a hike. Climbed out of Franconia Notch to Lonesome lake and a little bit of the AT towards the Kinsmans. Ran into a surprisingly large number of others for a Friday.
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Man, I'm going to miss getting up there this winter! Enjoy it as much as you can.
That is a beautiful picture! The trail looks nice and broken down, any need for spikes or snowshoes?
Slo-go'en
12-11-2020, 20:43
That is a beautiful picture! The trail looks nice and broken down, any need for spikes or snowshoes?
We mostly used snowshoes. Took them off for a bit to come back down some steep sections which would have been tricky with the shoes. Between myself, my companion and a few others with snowshoes, we packed the trail down enough for the late comers with bare boots to do okay. But even with a packed trail, using snowshoes is easier.
Nice of y'all to do that i'm sure the late comers appreciate that...
As of now they are calling for our first winter event Wed, 5-7" of snow :clap!
That's my favorite time to get out there except for the fall of course. I love getting out there in the snow for a couple days just so quiet and no morning bird waking you up.
Just sitting there in nice warm light down watching the snow from my hammock or tent sooooo content.....
futureatwalker
12-12-2020, 03:07
Awesome photos! Thanks for letting us experience the fresh snow in the White Mountains vicariously!
Kaptainkriz
12-12-2020, 10:58
That's gorgeous!
Dan Roper
12-12-2020, 12:02
As a lifelong southerner who has never ventured north in the winter months, this looks like a fairyland. Beautiful.
That first photo could win any contest!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
peakbagger
12-12-2020, 13:57
The trick is to pick the days, if its a day with high pressure in the area and blue skies, the low sun angle tends to make the colors and contrast far sharper. Another advantage the leaves are down so the sun gets below the canopy. The views from the summits tend to be far longer. In the summer there is haze that really cuts down on the views. Its routine on nice winter day to see the Green Mountains for about half of VT and its not unusual to see the Sugarloaf area in Maine.
This time of year there are a lot of weather patterns going through so we might get one good day out of 4 but as the winter progresses we get longer stretches of high pressure. The trade off can be very cold weather.
I am surprised that the snowshoe trail got established before the barebooters moved in and trashed the trails. Its a big problem that many folks show up without snowshoes and in some cases traction aids and they can really screw up paths. The trails in the whites are rocky, the snow fills in the around on top of the rocks and once the snow firms up the trails turn into relative sidewalks.
Slo-go'en
12-12-2020, 14:26
Yesterday was definitely the pick of the week for hiking weather. Took days for the remnants of the weekend storm to clear out.
Thankfully, the snowshoes showed up first and packed the trail down pretty good. We started seeing bare boots showing up (with and without traction) while eating lunch at the lake front, then more coming up the trail as we went down. A few cotton sweatshirts for attire. Lonesome lake trail is kind of touristy.
With today's thaw, no doubt there is a lot of post holing going on as I speak. Thankfully looks like we'll get some decent snow mid week before some bitter cold shows up. If the cold shows up first, then the post holes get frozen in place.
One of my favorite places in the world, beautiful pics!
We're getting hammered right now with snow :jump !
Calling for 12-18" for are area and I'm loving it!
If I didn't have to be into work tomorrow morning to plow snow I would've been snowshoeing up to ravens rocks for a couple days.
Oh well I'm dedicated and I'm paid double when the administrative offices are closed which they will be.
peakbagger
12-16-2020, 17:08
Last thing I knew, the northern whites will be on the northern fringe. Southern NH and North central Mass looks to get a lot more.
12-18 inches? Good grief. We went from 5-8 predicted as of Monday down to a tiny, tiny bit of nothingness when it actually hit. Ugh!
Similar forecasts for areas south of Albany in NY, with even a bit more possibly in the high parts of the Catskills and Berkshires. Amounts drop as you head north, meaning that parts of the Adirondacks that are usually the high snow areas may have very little.
Update 11am - Report of 39" in VT and 30"+ in NY (Washington Cty. which borders VT) - 20's in the Catskills as well.
DianaReid
12-17-2020, 05:42
incredibly beautiful place, i would like more photos from there!
Slo-go'en
12-17-2020, 15:50
incredibly beautiful place, i would like more photos from there!
Okay, here's a couple more.
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Slo-go'en
01-07-2021, 21:08
The weather hasn't been the best since the last hike, big rain washed away most of the snow and haven't gotten much since. But did do a short piece of the AT up to Mount Liberty today. Trail packed snow, not very deep. Microspikes all the way, only saw 10 others for a popular 4K. A bit windy on top, so couldn't linger for long, sub zero wind chill.
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WOW!!! Fantasy land!! Very nice Slo-go'en!! did you use any effects on the pics? some look like you did..
Slo-go'en
01-08-2021, 19:01
WOW!!! Fantasy land!! Very nice Slo-go'en!! did you use any effects on the pics? some look like you did..
Yes, a little. I love the "POP" adjustment my cell phone has.