A Mountain Too Far.

Saturday January 7 2012


Once again, I found myself driving the two hours to Franconia Notch to hike. Chris and I decided to wait and see what the weather was at the trail head parking lot to decide which Mountains to climb. The options were, North and South Kinsman or Lincoln and Lafayette. The latter two require a pretty good weather day because there are two miles of above treeline hiking. Exposure to both weather and falls in some areas and trails that can be difficult to follow in low visibility, make weather an important factor. We got to the parking lot about 8:15 and were on the trail by 8:30. We made the call to go up over the ridge since the weather looked Ok at that time.

Moses at the beginning of Falling Waters

We headed up Falling Waters Trail which for three miles climbs up to Franconia Ridge and Little Haystack Mountain which at 4,760 feet is higher itself than most of the four thousand footers.  It does not qualify as one of the 4000ers however because it is not separated by a col or saddle of more than 200 feet in depth. Falling Waters follows, oddly enough, Dry Brook. It is not dry and in winter there are quite a few places that it forms formidable ice bulges which require traction devices to negotiate.

We put on microspikes before starting and had no trouble.

Crampons

We got to the most troublesome spot and changed to full crampons as the microspikes were collecting snow on the bottom and the reduced traction could have been a problem. It was here, a young couple overtook us and neither was wearing traction devices. We questioned them about that and they

Microspikes

thought they’d be okay. We watched as they slowly went up the icy pitch and foundered around below a particularly nasty spot, trying to find a safe way over. I easily scrambled up and over the worst looking section to demonstrate the usefulness of traction devices. We moved on and left them to decide what to do. We learned later, they turned around right there.

Ice Flows Beside the Trail

We got to the summit of Little Haystack about 11:30. Just before we broke out above tree line we stopped to add layers and have a snack. There were plenty of people out on the ridge today. Starting across to Lincoln, we met several groups coming across from Lafayette. The weather had closed in a bit and visibility was down to a hundred yards or so.

Little Haystack

Cannon Cliffs from Little Haystack

 We reached the summit of Lincoln about 1:00 and then had a discussion about whether to continue or not. I preferred to go back as my legs were getting about to their limit and I knew we had to go down about 250 feet and then climb 350 more in the next mile to summit Lafayette and connect with Greenleaf Trail which would take us down to Greenleaf Hut and The Old Bridal Path which in turn would take us back to the parking lot. I also felt that given the weather conditions, I’d rather come back on a better day when the views would be better. I knew Chris would want to go across because he wanted to be able to say, he got Moses across the ridge In winter. So rather than listen to him complain about turning around, I acquiesced and trudged across. I did not enjoy it. I was moving so slowly, I couldn’t take time to take pictures or even celebrate going across the ridge. Hiking is something I do because I love it. When it stops being fun, It’s time to turn around, period. I have absolutely nothing to prove to anyone but myself. I didn’t need to summit Lafayette. I already had twice. Chris didn’t need to cross the ridge. He had done it multiple times. Moses didn’t care whether he went across or not. We got to the Summit of Lafayette at about 2:00.

Hiker in The Fog Near Lincoln Summit

Lafayette Summit

Back Alleys of Lafayette

We headed down the Greenleaf Trail and I had a bit of a chuckle when I heard Chris’s emergency whistle and a shout because he had gotten off trail and looked back and couldn’t see me. I hollered back and assured him he wasn’t too far off. He got back on the trail and we continued down.

At Greenleaf hut, we stopped for a few minutes and had a lunch and a rest before heading down. I took my time descending because, as tired as my legs were, I didn’t want to risk a fall or a twisted ankle. We got back to the parking lot about 4:30 and headed home.



Tips and Hints.

    Hiking companions

It probably isn’t possible to find someone who hikes exactly the same way you do. It sounds funny, I mean hiking is hiking, right? Maybe not so much. In summer hiking with other people is fairly straight forward. Everyone in the group can hike more or less at the pace of the slowest person, which is how it’s supposed to be. My rule for faster hikers in my groups is that the lead person will stop at any trail junction or anywhere the trail is not well defined. That is only with experienced hikers whom I know. Anyone else stays within sight.
 In winter it’s a whole different ballgame. Days are much shorter so you must start earlier or move faster. If your metabolisms aren’t the same, one person may move much slower than another and maintain the same comfort level as far as staying warm. I find that I can move very fast on the flat sections but very slowly on the steeps. Some people move at a constant speed throughout. Physical conditioning plays a big roll too. The rule of thumb is, the bigger the group the slower the hike. The trick is to make sure you stay closer together so the lead hikers don’t have to stop and wait too long and the slower hikers can stop long enough to get a rest.
Combine the physical differences with potential differences in comfort levels in extreme conditions and just plain differences of opinion and you run the risk of someone not enjoying themselves. So choose your hiking partners carefully and try to hike your own hike. If you hike in winter, it’s harder to find people to hike with because oddly enough, most people don’t like to hike in the cold!