We made it to the Applachia trail head at the base of Mount Madison about 6 hours behind schedule on Friday night due to bad winter driving conditions on the road from Boston. Still, we decided we wanted to camp on the …
Read More »4000 Footers
Breaking Triail to Mount Carrigan
Climbing Mount Carrigan (4700′) in winter is an ambitious quest requiring 14 miles of hiking or snowshoeing and 3900 feet of elevation gain. Route finding and bushwhacking skills are also useful, as the trail reroutes resulting from Hurricane Irene washouts are poorly …
Read More »Mount Osceola and East Osceola in February
Mount Osceola (4340′) and its subordinate peak East Osceola (4156′) are always a challenging climb in winter. Scarred by avalanche slides and ice encrusted cliffs, it is hard to comprehend how rugged these mountains are until you need to carry full winter …
Read More »Mount Monroe and Mount Washington in February
I have always admired the long sweeping ridge between Mount Washington (6288′) and Mount Monroe (5372′) and wondered what it would be like to hike it in winter. While I have hiked the route a half dozen times during the warmer months …
Read More »Mount Field and Mount Willey in February
My friend David and I popped up to New Hampshire mid-week to hike two winter 4,000 footers, Mount Field (4340′) and Mount Willey (4285′) in Crawford Notch. While I’ve climbed these peaks many times, I’d never climbed them during the winter peakbagging …
Read More »Mount Garfield in February
The anvil-shaped spire of Mount Garfield stands an isolated sentinel at the north-western end of the Pemigewasset Wilderness with excellent views of the other peaks that ring the 182 square mile forest. Blasted by winds, its rocky summit provides meager protection to …
Read More »North and South Kinsman Mountains in January
Try as I might, I can’t put my finger on the one reason I enjoy winter hiking and mountaineering so much. While the views from the high peaks can be exhilarating, there’s also the satisfaction of intense physical exertion, using the technical …
Read More »Owl’s Head Mountain in December
The two most difficult winter 4,000 footer hikes in the White Mountains are Owl’s Head Mountain and the Bonds, consisting of Bondcliff, Mount Bond and West Bond Mountain. The difficulty in reaching these peaks stems from their remoteness. All of them are …
Read More »The Tripyramids in Autumn
The Tripyramids are three peaks in the Sandwich Range of the White Mountains, North (4180′), Middle (4140′), and South (4090′), which are all over 4,000 in feet. Most people only bag North and Middle which are on the White Mountain 48 list, …
Read More »Climbing Mount Moosilauke and Mount Blue
Mount Moosilauke (4802) is one of the great peaks of the White Mountains with a substantial amount of picturesque above-treeline hiking. I’ve hiked it a few times this year with the intent of hiking up the different trails to the summit and …
Read More »Backpacking Kinsman and The Cannon Balls
My friend Yorghos and I co-led an Appalachian Mountain Club backpacking trip up to Kinsman ridge last weekend just before the landfall of Hurricane Sandy. For this trip, we climbed Cannon Mountain, The Cannon Balls, and North and South Kinsman before getting …
Read More »Hiking Wildcat Mountain in Autumn
Autumn has arrived in the White Mountains and with it a flurry of hiking before the need to gear up for snow, ice, and winter hiking. Bagging the higher or more remote peaks becomes far more difficult in the winter months due …
Read More »Adams and Jefferson in High Wind and Freezing Rain
I went on a challenging day hike on Saturday climbing Mount Adams and Jefferson, the second and third highest 4,000 footers (both above 5,000′) in the White Mountains. We knowingly hiked up into a heavy mist layer which had settled over the …
Read More »The Kilkenny Ridge Traverse in Northern New Hampshire
This past weekend, I co-led an Appalachian Mountain Club backpacking trip with my friend Stephen, completing a full traverse of the Kilkenny Ridge Trail, starting at South Pond and hiking south to the Starr King trail head in Jefferson, NH. We had …
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