Before I realized I could go much farther uphill with BC skis before the downhill slope exceeded my crappy skiing skills I used to ski around the local area. There was a major snowmachine trail going through land posted no snowmobiles on either side of the trail. I would use the trail to get to an interesting point and then head out in the woods with my skis. The area was in regrowth with pretty dense trees and old logging paths that were growing in. Many of newer snowmobiles are built for speed but have lousy flotation in fresh snow. I frequently would find that my ski tracks packed the snow down enough so that the machines would follow me onto the posted land. After observing this a bit I would head down one of the grown in roads until I was out of sight of the main trail and then I would head into the dense woods where the machines could not follow. On more than few occasions I would ski by later on in the day past that spot and would see where a snowmachine had gotten stuck in spot where they could not turn around. Usually lots of footprints and broken branches and once I saw where someone had blown a seal on their sled trying to rev it up enough to get it out.
Sleds can usually follow moose tracks in deep snow and on occasion folks will get busted chasing moose on a sled which can be death sentence for a moose in winter.
Thanks for the trip report. I'm trying to do a 5-ish day hike in the whites starting in a few days and this is a useful data point.
Another useful data point was seeing the weather forecast for Mount Washington
At this point I'm thinking of starting near Moosilauke and hiking up to Lonesome Lake, and hitting peaks along the way as weather allows.
original sobohobos, AT 2005
The summits have been picking up snow all week, with rain lower down. With temps dipping below freezing the next few nights (and snow flurries predicted) ice is going to be forming. Just enough to be deadly, but not enough to want to put on microspikes. These early winter conditions are the worst and most dangerous to hike in, be careful!
Follow slogoen on Instagram.
27 degrees and the snow made it's way down into the valley this morning. Windy out too, feels like about 10 degrees. We might have a real winter this year
SAM_4388.JPG
Follow slogoen on Instagram.
The walk down the street to get the paper this morning was a bit crunchy - and damn chilly. Well, its suppose to warm up into the 50's tomorrow so this will all melt. Then it goes back into the 20's so it will all freeze again. Yep, late fall/early winter conditions are really annoying. Time to wait until there is enough snow for snowshoes...
Follow slogoen on Instagram.
I’m sweating with ac blasting. Pick your poison! Wish I was there
27F and 1.5" of snow yesterday, 60F out today. Summits are still white though. Crazy weather swings.
Follow slogoen on Instagram.
I drove up last evening and the snow line was around 2500'. It was warm today an expect Welch Dicky with its good exposure should have mellted off if there as any one it. Still plenty of snow up high.