Fresh Air

Location: Franconia Notch NH
Elevation start: 1700'
Summit elevation: 4800'
Elevation gain: 3100'
Difficulty: Moderate (requiring stamina)

Meteorological Conditions: Friday, January 9, 2003
Base: 22º Wind 10-15mph
Summit: -5º wind chill (wind 30-40mph) Snow showers till noon, then mostly sunny (stormy on the summit)

Trail Conditions:
The total round trip is a little over 5 miles. The snowshoe trails were pretty well traveled for the first mile and a half (65% of the trail). After that, they became a little more snow covered. Toward the end of the hike there was so much new snow, we were nearly blazing our own trail...and that's when it got tough! So far, there’s been snow in that part of NH every day in 2003!

The Hike:
My friend Dan and I got to the trailhead at 9:00 in the morning. There were three or four cars in the parking lots on both sides of the highway. We really had the mountain to ourselves.

We went up Old Bridle Path for 0.2 miles, to the Falling Waters Trail that splits off to the right. The first mile and a half wasn't that bad, the elevation gain is only about 800'. We doubled back a half mile to the Old Bridle Path to make sure we were going the right way! This cost us an additional one mile round trip, and added about an hour on the hike! After the first mile and a half, it got steep. The next mile and a quarter we had to fight up a vertical rise of 2100', and it got a little strenuous.

Once we were close to breaking out of the tree line, Dan and I changed into our full head and face coverings, put on our heavy duty Gortex mittens and broke out the ski goggles. Once we crossed the tree line, the path was really tough for the first twenty yards or so. We had a really tough time getting good footing with our snow shoes and each step was a real effort. After that first really difficult 20 yards, through the whipping wind, we found our way to the mostly rocky path that led to the summit.

It was 2:00 p.m. when we hit the summit. We got there and had to pay pretty close attention to the gusting wind. It was pushing us all around without a whole lot of consistency. We hopped around up top, got a few good pictures and checked out the ridge that lead to Mt Lincoln and Mt Lafayette.

Up on the summit it's really like you're on another planet. It felt like we were in the middle of the clouds being driven by some ferocious wind that didn't care one bit that we were there! A few minutes spent on a snow capped summit in the White Mountains makes all those hundreds of dollars of gear worth all the investment. It's those few minutes and all the views that make the hike worth all the effort. There are no animals on the planet that can survive up there in winter summit conditions, and our gear makes it perfectly manageable for us to hack it. WHAT A RUSH!!!

After 5 or 10 minutes on the summit, we decided to make our way back down. Hiking down was nearly effortless compared to the hike up. We made it down in just two hours.

Recommendations:
Based on the snowfall in the White Mountains this winter, I wouldn't plan on hiking anything without a good pair of snowshoes. Dan and I used two different types, I had Pinnacle 30's and Dan used a Tubbs make. The Pinnacles had their new step in binding much like those on snowboards. These were easier to get in and out of, but didn't have a great toe stop. On the hike down my foot kept sliding forward in the binding and the ball of my foot started to ache toward the end of the hike. The up-side to the Pinnacles is the much larger crampons on the shoe. They made it easier for me to dig in and get good footing when Dan had a little more difficulty with the Tubbs.

Now, neither Dan nor I are the spring chickens we were ten years ago. I'm a 30 year old guy, and Dan will be 30 in April... neither of us have the knees we did ten years ago. As soon as we got down from this hike we both went to an outdoor outfitting shop in Lincoln and got a pair of telescoping hiking poles. These proved hugely beneficial the next day on the hike up Chocorua. I highly recommend poles if your knees need even a little bit of help or if you're going to be hiking with a good amount of weight.

The obvious too:

[bullets][li]Bring PLENTY of food and water[/li][li]Bring a map to follow along the way[/li][li]Dress for the conditions (bring an extra dry hat it's nice to have options)[/li][li]Trail first aid kit (include bandages for sprained ankles and moleskin)[/li][/bullets]