Mt. Washington, NH, 3/31/02

[Lftgly]

Four of us skinned up the Cog Railway to Mt Clay. The western slope was icy going up. <BR> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/1567.jpg" ALT="Jacobs Ladder"> <BR> <BR>Took a warm up run on the summit snowfields, which had softened up in the morning sun. <BR> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/1568.jpg" ALT="Tucker & Wheeler on Mt Clay"> <BR> <BR>Waited awhile for Pipeline Gully to soften up, then decided to go for it. (Sorry, didn't take the camera) <BR> <BR>There was about 1"-3" of soft corn on the sunny, skiers left, on top of a firm base; the right side was very firm, but edgeable.. It really was a pretty sweet run, anywhere from the middle to the sunny side, and well worth the hike. But 3/4 of the way down was an icefall in the shade of an overhang, which presented some challenge, to say the least. We probably should have hiked back up from that point, but after Tucker went over the icefall first (unintentionally), we were all committed. Irv found a better line around the skiers left, and once out of the shade, it was a beautiful runout. <BR> <BR>The hike up and out via Airplane Gully hadn't softened up much, and required a lot of work to kick in a good set of toeholds on some thin pitches down low. Tucker & Irv did a good job route-finding, and they found some good, soft snow as we hiked further up. We somehow managed to get up over an intimidating cornice at the top, at which point we were happy it hadn't softened up any more. <BR> <BR>Three of us headed back to pick up our packs, left behind on the summit of Mt Clay. The summits hadn't softened up as much as anticipated, and the hike out of Great Gulf had taken a lot out of us, so back down via the Cog seemed the safest bet. <BR> <BR>Below 5000 feet, this western slope had started to soften up nicely. It turned out to be beautiful spring conditions further down, though a very narrow line along the Cog tracks. <BR> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/1569.jpg" ALT="Halfway Point in the morning"> <BR> <BR>By the time we had descended to the Waumbek Tank, it was mashed potatoes and a nice wide right-of-way from there down.