OUR
COMMENTS - MARCH, 2001
Winter Fun and a First Winter Summit Climb
The winter snows have been constant and heavy since mid December this season and the snowshoeing has been tremendous. We were a little concerned about deer being able to move about in their yards on the hemlock ridges after a single thirty inch snowfall at the beginning of February. However, we found many deer trails and observed one large, healthy looking deer despite the deep snow on a Saturday hike. We were joined by our Shelburne neighbor, Lala, on a repeat of the same hike the next day. Despite being outfitted with ash bearpaw snowshoes and no crampons, we worked our way up the steep ridge to what we call "Hidden Ledge", which provides a dramatic view towards Mount Washington. We found where a moose had bedded down on the edge of the cliff to enjoy the same view.
We visited the front of the cliffs on the way up and examined the dry cavern tucked in under the overhanging cliff. We were hoping to find a denning bear, but found only a temporary bedding area for moose or deer. The return hike was much faster, using the cleared center trail where we could almost ski down on our snowshoes. The driveway to the cottage has been closed since the February thirty inch snowstorm and we use a sled to get groceries and our bags up to the cottage landing, which makes for an added sense of remoteness on our little mountain.
Lala & Ginger Climbing Ridge - Base of Hidden Ledge (click for larger view)
Ginger and I made our first winter climb to First Mountain's summit later in February. The Saturday morning of the climb was bright, cool, and sunny, and surprisingly calm after morning winds that were blowing a large plume of snow off the summit and over the eastern slope of Mount Washington. That morning we bought new snowshoes for the occasion, a necessity considering the four feet of snow on top of the mountain and the steep slopes to climb. Our trusty old 10"X36" ash bearpaws have been great for the deep powder on our lower slopes, but without crampons act more like skis on steep slopes.
We visited Moriah Sports in next door Gorham and the owner persuaded us to buy Yuba XSV series snowshoes. The shoes are designed for extreme mountaineering and approach climbs, and while First Mountain is not extreme mountaineering, we have been enjoying snowshoeing through our forest so much that we are likely to start doing winter climbs in the "Whites" and will be properly outfitted. The new shoes have an interesting feature which I thought was just a useless marketing gadget - a wire bale heel lift. When we began the steep climb to Joe's ledges on the East boundary trail, I raised the bale for the steep final third of the climb and the difference was amazing. It was like the 30 percent slope was cut in half.
Ginger lead the hike on the lower approach and saw a pair of moose climbing ahead of us. Being of limited vision, I generally walk behind when we are most likely to see wildlife. I was never able to see the moose through the trees as Ginger repeatedly pointed them out. I had taken her up to the wetland a day earlier to show her all of the moose tracks that had accumulated there since our hike a week earlier. It looked like a moose convention with thirty inch deep tracks everywhere and more than 30 piles of moose poop. A short distance after Ginger saw the moose, I did see one fresh pile of moose poop, so I knew the moose were just in front of us and that Ginger had really seen them.
Start of Summit Climb - At Top of Joes Ledges (click for larger view)
Joe's Ledges were bright and sunny and no wind. We had brought all of our cold weather and windproof gear and encountered a milder day on that ledge than is usually encountered on a late fall day. We tromped on up another 100 feet in elevation to the true summit, which is hard to distinguish in the summer, but more pronounced in the snow and open woods. I was surprised to find no deer or moose tracks on top in the dense conifer forest. I usually find sign of deer and moose wintering when I visit the summit in the spring. It is probably more cold and exposed there than down in the hemlock ridges where deer and moose trails are plentiful. The coyote tracks running north-south through the summit cone may also have had a relationship to the lack of deer or moose.
Larry
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