Whiteface and Passaconaway, 2/8/2009

[LRiz]

It was drizzling, quite drearily, in Lincoln as I made my way to meet Cath at the Downes Brook parking area. I'd been told that snowshoeing in the rain is one of the most miserable and disheartening situations that one can encounter whilst winter hiking... and I had a feeling that today would be my lucky day to experience the joy of tramping through wet, slushy snow. However, it appeared that the weather gods had other plans. Rain quickly transformed into sleet, coating the roads in a slick layer of slush as I maneuvered back and forth along the vicious twists and turns of the Kanc. Oddly enough, within minutes the precipitiation stopped entirely, and the clouds around me parted to reveal - gasp! - sunshine? Perhaps it would not be such a bad day after all...

Setting up an hour-long car spot for a 10 mile hike certainly requires dedication (or at least a small measure of craziness), yet is well worth it when one has the potential opportunity to explore the Passaconaway Slide trail. Pulling into Ferncroft at around 10:45am, we were psyched and more than ready to tackle the 3.6 mile climb up to Whiteface. Although the parking area was packed with cars, it did not appear that there were any hikers ahead of us on the trail (which was wonderfully packed out, I might add). We were able to maintain a steady pace, cursing the summery temperatures on occasion, all the way up to the ledges... which, to my delight, were fantastically simple to navigate.

The first scramble was made easy for this non-pole-user by the lovely natural hand holds:



The second ledge was a little tougher... unless, of course, you possess superhuman reach capabilites and are able to grasp the branch all the way to the right side of this picture:



Upwards, we climbed, the views rapidly opening up around us... sensational, staggering. The sky was a patchwork of vivid whites, the deepest blues, and every possible shade of grey... pierced at random by thick beams of sunlight which illuminated the surrounding mountains like spotlights:



As we gained elevation, the winds started to pick up, making the third and final scramble slightly more challenging:



Passaconaway, in particular, looked stunning in the brilliant afternoon light:



Ah, I simply could not not get enough of those views, and continued to obsessively snap pictures right until we reached the Rollins trail junction. Though we'd not yet reached the true summit of Whiteface, I was quite adamant about having my picture taken by the ledges, given the striking contrast in the sky:



Amazingly, the Rollins trail was thoroughly broken out, making for very fast going right up to the summit of Whiteface. How uninspiring it is. I felt it necessary to cheer things up a little with a silly picture:



From that point onwards, the trail had drifted just a tad, but was nonetheless still pleasant to travel upon. We encountered one solo hiker about a mile or so from the Dicey's Mill junction, but other than that had both mountains entirely to ourselves - more than a little surprising, given just how lovely it was outside. Reaching Dicey's Mill... now that was a packed sidewalk, and the climb up to Passaconaway was a breeze. Once again, we were greeted with delightful views from the outlook just below the summit:



...now, the real fun was to begin!

[LRiz]

Knowing that we'd be potentially encountering very snowy conditions on the Passaconaway Slide trail, Cath and I donned our hard shells and proceeded up to the summit of Passaconaway. I was bouncing up and down like quite the maniac, thrilled to have attained my 41st winter peak, and perhaps even more excited at the prospect of exploring a new trail:



Leaving the summit behind us, we ventured towards the second summit outlook, and then proceeded to make our way down the abandoned Passaconaway Slide trail. Oh wow, was it steep:



...you couldn't have wiped the grin off my face if you'd tried! Even though we were breaking through deep snow, falling into the occasional spruce trap, and attempting to navigate via marvelously well-hidden axe blazes, I was having an absolute blast. We stayed, for the most part, in the woods beside the slide, and lost elevation with remarkable rapidity due to the sheer steepness of the slope. However, I found it most fun when we were able to prance around on the snowfields:



The light began to fade as we continued our descent, the trees around us aflame in gold as the sun slowly set behind the canopy of the forest. Cath was kind enough to take many pictures of me breaking the trail, and I of course decided to reciprocate:



I didn't want the adventure to end, but alas, we were soon at the junction with the Downes Brook trail. What a happy little camper I was:



Downes Brook proved to be troublesome, with tough water crossing after tough water crossing. Fortunately, the ice bridges held firm for the most part, although I did step in very briefly on two separate occasions. As the sky gradually darkened, I began to wonder if headlamps would be necessary... that is, until the moon started to rise... and how radiant it was!

There's really nothing quite like finishing a hike by mooooooooooonlight . It was certainly a day of many new experiences...



(More pictures can be found here...)

[TrishandAlex]

Yeah, okay, now I'm just being redundant....but again, brilliant as always!

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

Nice report and photos, LRiz. I think that the abandoned North Passaconaway Slide Trail is one of the finest winter descent routes in the Whites (probably too fragile vegetation in the upper gully for non-winter traffic). Just do not get caught with any trail maintenance tools in your pack and risk a $10,000 fine (per USFS sign on tree in your second to last shot).

[rocket21]

Awesome! Now I need to check out the rest of that old trail (only been to the top viewpoint)!

[Dave Bear]

Congrats on #41 LRiz! Your reports are always great with superb pictures, like the shots of you up on the Whiteface Overlook! What's your camera?

[gooly]

Dang LRiz! You are tearing up the Whites!!