| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Scar Ridge West Peak, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Ski Trail, bootleg ski trail, bushwack, backcountry glades |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Saturday, February 23, 2013 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow - Unpacked Powder |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
ski trails were well groomed. we basically tried to follow the route of the summer service road to avoid too many steep pitches. lots of skiers to watch out for. picked up the usual bootleg ski trail to black mountain, which was well packed by skiers, and followed it to where it makes the hard left turn. here we bushwacked roughly southeast up towards the summit ridge. i got us a little bit too far east to start, but we corrected back onto our planned course. along the way we came upon an older snowshoe track we were able to follow for a bit through relatively open woods. once on the ridge we headed east to the summit staying on the south side of the ridge on the way up based on experiences i have had in summer, but probably not as useful a tactic with the snow covering many obstacles that route avoided. some minor spruce traps, but the snow was consolidated enough we could generally travel without punching through too far. just below the summit we again picked up the traces of an older snowshoe track that led to the summit. could not get the canister open and the bent screw used to turn the cover out broke off while i was working at it. pliers would have been helpful....descending we went more direct and eventually picked up our earlier track and followed it back to the bootleg ski trail. we opted to continue towards black mountain and try to drop down through the backcountry glades to the ski area. the glades we ended up in were steep for snowshoeing and pretty skied out, but made for a fairly quick descent. the final pitch above the brook in the drainage had us down climbing backwards due to its steepness. not sure how people ski that.....a nice ski track led the rest of the way out of the drainage and reconnected with the ski trails right before the entrance to the ski areas "snowshoe trails".
we wore snowshoes the whole hike.
a warm and damp day for sure. we were pretty wet by the time we got to the summit. only a couple limited views along the way due to clouds. we got into a little thick woods on the bushwack, but never anything too bad. noted that someone else had come up behind us, but passed them somewhere along the way without meeting. descending via the glades was interesting and probably safer than trying to dodge skiers on the busy slopes. thanks to steve for a great hike.
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 | Name: |
bryan |
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 | E-Mail: |
bryancuddihee@yahoo.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2013-02-23 |
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 | Link: |
 https:// |
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Disclaimer: Reports are not verified - conditions may vary. Use at own risk. Always be prepared when hiking. Observe all signs. Trail conditions reports are not substitutes for weather reports or common sense. |
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