After a 5:00 meeting at the AT parking lot at the Flume Visitor Center and leaving our exit vehicles,
we headed up I-93 to Lafayette Place for the start of our multi-day odyssey.
A quick pic of Andy and Cath at the Bridle Path trailhead sign and we were
off by headlight up the well packed footway, leaving at 5:23 am.The forecast called for a high pressure system building in, but the clouds and winds were going to be reluctant to depart from the mountains for the better part of the day.
Making
our way to treeline over the Agonies we found lots of fresh powder sticking
to the trees and beautiful drifts along the edge of the trail. The sky glowed
a soft powder blue, and great white curtains of fog billowed over the ridgeline
as the dawn progressed.What a gorgeous morning in the mountains!
Arriving
at the hut at a bit after 7 am, we had a snack and geared up with shells
and other warm goodies for the windy ridgewalk ahead. The upper ramparts
of Franconia Ridge remained mostly in the clouds, and a stiff 10 degree
wind with occasional strong gusts buffeted us for most of the ascent to
Lafayette. The lighting for photography was fantastic.On Franconia Ridge:
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Andy
and Cath
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Lafayette
Summit
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Frosty
on Patrol
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Andy's
Disappearing Act
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Cath
in Pursuit
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After
the Big Wind
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Approaching
Lincoln
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Stonyfield
Spokesmodel
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Descending
Lincoln 1
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Descending
Lincoln 2
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Approaching
"Knife Edge"
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Off
to Lil' Haystack
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Other
than getting blasted with some heavy winds at the summit of North Lincoln
which temporarily froze us in our tracks, the ridge ramble went pretty smoothly.
Having the frigid north wind at our backs was a welcome assist in our hustle
across the ridge over packed, well adhered snow and ice patches. We wore
crampons from the summit of Lafayette to just south of Little Haystack.
Snowshoes
were on for the unpacked 1.9 mile section to the Liberty Spring Trail junction,
where we dropped our packs for a quick out and back over Liberty and Flume.
Along the way we met two heavily laden backpackers who were postholing up
to their knees, despite the snowshoes on their backs. |
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Near
Summit of Liberty
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Give
me Liberty!
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Frosty
and Frostier
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Flume
Summit Ridge
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Flume
Summit
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The out and back to Flume went well, and before long we were down at the cars ready for round 2 of the day - the Hancocks. Cath took off to heat up some noodles and Andy and I met up with Jeff in Lincoln, where Cath joined us shortly with a salad bowl of mac and cheese on her lap.
We headed
up to the Hancock trailhead, and hit the trail at a bit after 3:30 pm.
Visually, this loop coundn't hold a candle to the spectacular morning
on Franconia Ridge, so my camera stayed in it's case for most of this
hike.
The glissade
down South Hancock was GREAT!
I think we got back to the lot at about 7:30 pm.
1 day down, 8 to go. Tomorrow...the Presidential Range!
Images from the Hancock Loop hike:
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Hancock
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Hearty
Lumberjacks
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South
Hancock
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All images Copyright Tim Seaver © 2006