Steve and I arrived at Highland Center in different cars. I was there earlier which gave me a chance to gear up in the warm bathroom at the new AMC hostel deep in Crawford Notch. Sure beat my usual gearing up in a cold trailhead parking lot. I would focus on the Crawford notch peaks during the winter ahead.
Steve met up, neither of us had done very much fall hiking and I hadn't hiked anything strenuous since August. Fortunately Mount Pierce (once Mt Clinton) is considered to be an easier hike. I did it once from Mitzpah hut up the steep Webster cliff trail in summer and that wasn't "easy."
We started hiking at about 8:30am, fairly late by winter standards. With the winter solstice just passing we were at about 8-1/2 hrs of daylight, it would be mostly dark by 4:30pm. We started up the moderate trail which was nicely packed down. With the HC right across the street it must get lots of traffic.
It was a pleasant hike, not cold in fact we were warming up pretty good. The sun was struggling to break through. We passed the spot with cascades that were still running. It hadn't been a terribly cold fall.
We took our time, stopped to enjoy the winter scenery, otherwise it was pretty much up-up-up but mildly so. We looked up as the views started to open up, a nice look at Eisenhower through stubby trees which I'd hoped to set my sights on.
Taking a right turn we ascended the slippery ledges which were a full of ice. The higher we went the better the views and of course the more wind we encountered. I snapped a few pictures, we took a minute on the summit and then started down.
Heading into the wind now it was getting cold, we were bundled up and quickly passed over the ledges. The instep 6-point crampons and hiking pole were a nice assistance. I wouldn't try to climb down ice without those sharp points!We hadn't seen anybody all day, it was around 11am and I was eyeing Eisenhower. It looked good, we could see clouds rolling over Washington and spilling down into the gulfs. Eisenhower was completely clear and looked so tantalizingly close.
Steve said he couldn't go because he was heading to a family party that afternoon. I looked at it again, ughh! I wanted to go across and I probably would've gone across solo but the zipper on my windbreaker snapped. I could also hear the voice of my wife asking me not to go alone in winter.
So we went down, "another day" I mumbled to myself!" We ran into a couple with a cool dog, I took another picture through the trees which I hoped to send to the Mt Washington Observatory and we trekked down the mountain.
It was an easy descent, we enjoyed the mild downhill, no glissading on this path! Back at the HC an hour later we talked about Monroe next. That one had slipped through my cold fingers the year before.
The winter of 2004-05 would treat me good. I came back to visit Crawford again in early February and we had a rare day indeed, bagging Monroe, Eisenhower and Pierce. I came back later that month to the notch to climb Tom-Field and Willey. Washington and Cannon would be added to the list also. It was during that winter I decided to climb all the 48 NH highest in winter.