Date: Tue, 02 Feb 1999 17:49:04 -0500
From: Matthew Hollingworth <mholling@MIT.EDU>
Subject: Trip Report: Franconia Ridge hike, Flume Gorge ice climbing
(Photos thanks to Luke.)
It was too bad that January's three weeks of warm, wet weather dampened the spirits of the majority of winter schoolers, for the final weekend put on a splendid display of perfect winter weather. On Saturday, a small group of us (me, Luke and Chrissy) took advantage of the rain's acquiescence to take in the superb views atop Franconia Ridge.
Arriving at the Camelot Cabin late Friday night, we opted not to start a fire. (Camelot becomes increasingly harder to heat through the winter, as dry wood gives way to frozen.) Or warm winter sleeping bags only partly offset the frigid temperatures that resulted that night. (Luckily, the next night, when it reached ten below outside, we had a fire to keep the cabin marginally above freezing!)
Next morning, after the obligatory stop at MITOC's New Hampshire HQ (a.k.a. Dunkin Donuts), we hit the trail. Several lenticular clouds on the Ridge and nearby peaks predicted high winds above treeline, but conditions were initially still and sunny. The snow was firm underfoot, and we made rapid progress up the Old Bridal Path to a ledge at about
3500 feet. From here we could see the gullies between Mounts Lafayette and Lincoln - impressive and steep, with large ice flows in some parts. Continuing up, we stopped just short of the Greenleaf hut to don our above-treeline clothing ensemble. Variation in the group's susceptibility to cold became apparent at this point, as did the convenience of side-zip pants. (If you've ever hopped around on one foot in the snow, you'll know what I mean!)
Shortly after the hut, we stopped again to take care of cold fingers, before hiking up into the open, rock-strewn terrain beneath the summit of Lafayette. In this direction, the final approach to the summit is significantly longer than it appears, which can play havoc with your mental stamina. Several steep traverses later, we reached the top, in winds which were remarkably mild for Franconia Ridge. (Winds had apparently been much stronger earlier, and would pick up again later as
we approached the Northern end of the ridge.)
As the occasional cloud blew swiftly by, we set off northwards along the ridge, towards Mount Lincoln. Several hikers that we passed, with hair and eyelashes that were frosted over, gave us some idea of our own appearance! In some sheltered places, spindrift had accumulated significantly, but elsewhere it was being whipped up into a sparkling frenzy by the wind, billowing over rocks and forming strange eddies in the air, and rasping on our cheeks. The experience of a ridge hike such as this, in such amazing conditions, is special and almost surreal.
With the majestic Presidential Range and intervening Pemigawasset Wilderness on our left, and the spectacular Cannon Cliffs on our right, we picked our way among the rocks, ice and snow, eventually reaching Little Haystack and descending back below treeline. The snow on the trail was a little too consolidated for me to comfortably descend in boots alone, and I was never one for snowshoe skiing, so a change to crampons was in order. Luke, a talented glissader, chose to run and slide his way down the trail. Chrissy, who runs marathons for fun, chose to bound down the trail in snow shoes, leaving us far behind! Each of our chosen forms of footwear worked well, and descending the Falling Waters trail was smooth and easy. The many waterfalls, for which the trail is named, presented a variety of beautiful ice formations, including cauliflower bulges along the center of the cascades and long chandeliered icicles on the periphery.
We arrived back at our car as the sky was darkening, and promptly headed to Lincoln for dinner at Elvio's. (We also went gear shopping, to Chrissy's amusement. And yes, Patagonia is still a scam, even on sale!). Back at Camelot, we were able to raise a decent fire and spend the evening in comfort. We were joined later by Hector, in preparation for the next day's ice climbing.
On Sunday morning we stopped off at Glory Jean's for a breakfast of pancakes (which, BTW, are dry and possibly to be avoided), and then headed to Flume Forge with ice tools, crampons and topropes in tow. This spectacular gorge, about ten metres wide and thirty high, was covered with luscious, thick, near-vertical ice, plenty intimidating for Chrissy's first attempt at ice climbing. Two topropes were anchored, one over a short vertical flow and the other on a varied pitch of bulges, detached vertical ice sheets and a nice-sized chimney.
After a short ropes skills lesson, we set about climbing every line we could think of, both with our one set of technical ice tools, and a pair of alpine axes! (The latter were demonstrated by Luke and Hector to be quite plausible, but more fall-prone, for vertical ice.) On encountering the chimney, I discovered that stemming has its place on ice as well as
rock. Although it doesn't always look that graceful, it seems to be quite effective! Luke tried out his monopoints, and Hector, as always, went out of his way to find interesting positions from which to try and extricate himself. Chrissy first tried the longer pitch, quickly encountering the "jelly arm" effect, and later completed the shorter climb in fine style before collapsing in a heap at the bottom!
We again packed up our gear and left just as dusk descended on us, and returned to Boston with the satisfaction of a beautiful winter weekend made the most of. We can only hope that the weather will be as agreeable for next weekend's Mount Washington trip!
Matthew.
"I'll let you in on a secret: rock climbing is only what you do in the off season."
-- Me, in an email to a potential climbing partner.
