This a story about my winter hiking
adventure to Mount Adams in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. As per usual,
I decided to go up alone as most of my friends hibernate during winter. For the
White Mountains, this can be a very dangerous situation. I hadn’t been up there
for a while, however, and needed to go. It was raining in Boston when I left,
but if it turned to snow in the mountains, I’d be happy.
After a snowy, white knuckle drive
up Route 93 through Franconia Notch, I finally arrived at the gas station
located across from Lowes Path. I parked and went inside to purchase a snack
before heading out. The cashier asked me if I was getting ready for a hike. I
replied that I was and she responded as to how stupid I was because of all the
snow they had gotten and of the current weather conditions. I laughed and said
that was exactly what I was after! I went back to the car to get ready and take
inventory of what I had. Even though it was just a day hike I still brought my
El Lobo 65 because of how comfortable it is. Other North Face essentials consisted
of my Mountain Guide jacket, Himalayan Mitts, an older wicking tee, my Bones
Beanie (which is over ten years old), a Princeton Tech head lamp, Smartwool
socks, and the Smith Prophecy Turbo goggles which I won in the Smith contest. I
was really excited to use the goggles to see how well the turbo fan worked.
It was sleeting when I started the
hike, but I knew it would quickly turn to snow. Shortly after starting, I took
a picture of the bad weather warning sign, which I do to commemorate the
beginning of every hike. The hiking was slow but steady. The snow was deep, but
my snowshoes make winter hiking a dream. The trail is traveled once a week by
the Gray Knob caretaker, so there was snowpack underneath to keep me from post-holing.
I actually ran into the caretaker as he was hiking down. He was grateful that I
had hiked in and broke the trail for the rest of his hike out, and I was
grateful that he did the same for me! I finally reached the treeline where the
Gray Knob hut is located. I stopped in to eat my PB&J, and then headed out
again.
Breaking out of the trees, I
finally saw that visibility was about 100 yards, not bad considering the wind
and snow. The trail conditions had gotten even better because of the wind. The
snow cover was very thin and the trail was easy to follow. As I progressed up
and over the small peak of Mount Sam Adams, the trail seemed to disappear. It
was more sheltered and had accumulated a lot more snow. I found out later that I
was standing above six to seven feet of snow! At the time I could not
understand why I couldn’t see the cairns. I searched around for ten minutes
until I found the top of a cairn. I thought to myself how silly it was that
these cairns were so small! After getting my bearings, I could easily see the
peak I had just come over. I pressed on to Thunderstorm Junction which is at
the base of the final climb to the peak of Adams. The weather had gotten worse
but I still had decent visibility. From the junction it was a
quick hike to the summit. The wind was really whipping up there, so I decided
it was finally time for some goggles. However, after digging through my bag
they were nowhere to be found! Turns out they were on the front seat of my car,
being useless. I had to tighten my hood and tough it out. I was only on the
summit for 2-3 minutes so I snapped a picture of my frozen beard, wind-blown
face and the snow covered sign.
Going down is always the best
because it goes so much quicker. I had my head down most of the time to shield
my face from the wind. Unfortunately, I did not realize how quickly the weather
was turning. By the time I reached the point where I previously lost the trail
I could no longer see anything. Visibility had decreased to a mere ten to
fifteen feet. It was very odd to stare straight ahead and see nothing but
white. I wasn’t too concerned just yet as I knew the direction I was supposed
to be going, and I knew the small peak of Sam Adams was very close by. I
continued on for what seemed like an eternity only to find nothing. I knew the
layout of the land and I knew I was heading north, but all I could see was
white; no rocks, no markers, nothing. After walking around for an hour I
decided that I needed to get out any way possible while I still had the energy
and daylight.
It was about 2pm so I still had
good light, but with the storm the dusk light would be cut considerably short.
I started making my way down while traversing towards the northeast. I
eventually came across a huge rock with a small cave to take some cover. I
needed to try to figure out where I was. I had a pretty good idea since I knew
the direction, I just didn’t know how far north I was. I was still wearing
hiking shorts with baselayers and my Mountain Guide jacket. I was warm due to
all of the previous scrambling I was doing looking for the trail, however, I
started to get cold shortly after stopping to rest at that big rock. I put on
my ski pants and my Himalayan Mitts which made all the difference in the world.
I referred to the map and compass, and decided that I had to be in King Ravine.
If I could just make it down safe, there were a ton of trails that I could take
to get out. As I was packing up, I noticed that visibility had gotten a little
better. I could now see that I was on a very steep portion of the ravine. I had
no idea how unstable the snow was, but I knew that an avalanche was a real
threat. With that I decided to call 911 to let them know of my situation. I had
turned my phone off and kept it close to my body to keep it warm, so the
battery still had some juice left. Fortunately when you call 911 the phone will
access an emergency signal allowing you to connect. I was talking to the
dispatcher and he was able to track my position via GPS. Either my phone was
bad or the storm was throwing the tracking off because he placed me on the
opposite side of the ridge. I knew I was not there but he could not be
convinced otherwise. He connected me with the state police who then put me in
touch with the park ranger, who knew every trail in the Whites like the back of
his hand. He told me to keep going until I reached the Perch. The Perch was a
shelter that was very close to where the GPS said I was. I kept telling him I
was not there. He finally said, “Well either way just head down, you’ll run
into a trail eventually”.
I headed out. I could see down the ravine a
little ways and saw that it was clear of rocks and debris. I sat down and
slowly slid my way down. I stayed to the side just in case a slide started. I
eventually got to the opening of a narrow gulley. I couldn’t see down it from
where I was, so tried to shimmy across to the middle. It was going well when
all of the sudden I lost my footing. Sliding on my butt, I quickly picked up
speed. I wish I had taken my snowshoes off because now they were a hazard. The
goggles would have been really useful here. It was hard to see, I just hoped
for the best. I launched off a small 6-7ft drop, which I later found out was
more like a 15ft drop without all of the snow. Once I cleared that the slope
started to mellow out some and I could now see the base of the ravine. At that
point I started pushing myself to slide as far as possible. When I came to a
stop I started laughing. It was scary at first but when it was over I kind of
wanted to hike back up and do it again! I quickly calmed down once I saw my
next hurdle. It was a giant boulder field. I knew I had to be careful here
because with giant boulders comes giant voids. I did the best I could to stay
on top of the rocks and bridged the gaps. I found some shelter to check my
phone which I had kept in my mittens to keep warm. To my surprise I had service
and was able to contact the ranger directly for an update. He was enthusiastic
and told me to keep going. He also told me he would come pick me up wherever I
ended up because I would be far away from my car. The snow was still coming
down but I was more sheltered from the wind so cold was no longer a factor if I
kept moving.
Luckily I made it through the
boulder field with no problems. It was now on to the trees. The snow here was
very deep and fluffy, rendering my snowshoes useless. Every step ended with me
up to my waist in snow. I was nearly at a standstill so I resorted to crawling.
It was the only way to make it through the branches and stay on top of the
snow. With the added cover from the trees, I was losing day light fast. I started
to pick up the pace when I heard a familiar sound. It was a brook! Its size was
decent enough that I knew it would be on the map. I told myself I had to cross
it first and as a reward I can look at the map. While looking for the best
place to cross I saw it…the back of a sign nailed to a tree! Finally I would
know where I was. I crossed the brook and read the sign which said Mossy Falls.
With a sigh of relief I took the map out to see where I was. I was further than
I thought but still a good walk from the road. I called the ranger to let him
know where I was. He was surprised and said, “You did know where you were all
along!” It was now getting dark enough to use my headlamp. I was excited to use
it as it was a Christmas present from my brother, and it is an eight LED lamp
from Princeton Tec. It really lit up the whole forest. With renewed energy and
morale I continued down the trail. However, I soon found out that my struggle
wasn’t over. The trail was not packed at all so with every other step I was
post-holing up to my waist, even with my snowshoes on. What should have taken
me an hour tops ended up taking me 3.5 hours. It was slow and I stopped often
to rest and eat the rest of my snacks, but I eventually made it out. The ranger
came to pick me up and brought me to my car. I was very grateful to him for this.
It was about 11pm when I got to my car and I had to drive home since I was
working the next day. Even my car was a struggle since it was buried in the
snow! I learned a valuable lesson; when solo winter hiking, check the map and
compass often, bring trail markers in case the cairns are buried again, and don’t
forget your goggles!
Thanks for reading!
Mark Ferioli
Oatmeal for breakfast.
Went to Cave City
Husband disappears.
