| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
East Osceola, Mt. Osceola, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Greeley Ponds Trail, Mt. Osceola Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Tuesday, December 24, 2024 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Approx. 6 inches of snow fell overnight; lot was not plowed in the morning and was still unplowed at 4:30pm when I returned to the truck. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow - Drifts |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Streams frozen over |
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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: |
Woke up to see six inches of fresh powder fell overnight. Hit the trail at 7:45am. With six inches of unpacked powder, deeper in some areas, I elected to break trail in snowshoes the entire hike. Mt. Osceola Trail is known for being steep, and the loose powder sitting on top of packed ice and rocks made for a very slippery ascent, even with the aggressive bite of Lightning Ascent snowshoes. Had to stomp through the powder to get traction most of the time. Also dome deeper drifts along the ridge.
The notorious chimney was predictably iced over. I opted for the alternate route to the right, which was dicey, especially as I forgot to bring an axe. I used snowshoes to go up, but very tough to get traction. I briefly strapped on spikes to descend that same route next to the chimney. In hindsight, the spikes were worse than my snowshoes. Real crampons with longer spikes would probably have worked fine. After I got home, I read about an easier alternate-to-the-alternate route. I'll be sure to hunt for it next time.
The descent from East Osceola involved a lot of semi-controlled snowshoe skiing and butt-sliding. It's a challenging trail in *both* directions.
It continued to snow lightly until about 9am. Blue skies were breaking out on the way up, but by the time I got to the peak of Osceola, the visibility was only about three miles. The temperature was pretty consistent at 14 degrees F for most of the day with very light winds. Lovely winter hiking weather!
Got back to the Greeley Pond Trailhead at 4:30. I figured at my slow pace, someone would have passed me on the way up, but no-one else hiked these peaks today. I did see some tracks on the cross country ski trail when I got down, though. |
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 | Name: |
Sixvolt |
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 | E-Mail: |
jmalarsky@yahoo.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2024-12-24 |
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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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