Just a quick hike in the Presidentials...

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