Mount Adams

Trail: Valley Way, Osgood Trail, Gulfside, Airline

Conditions: Ice - Black, Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow - Unpacked Powder

“Valley way is almost entirely well packed to the hut minus one short/less than a half mile section of loose drifted barebooted snow. It would have taken more effort to put snowshoes on for that short section than it did to just hike the steps created by others (imo). Up to Madison was a mix of rocks and packed snow, some avoidable ice. More rocks than snow unfortunately. Sharp spikes were fine, crampons would have not been fun with all the rocks. Rest of the way to Adams had some loose drifted snow until it was back to mostly rocks and hard packed snow. Not much ice. Rocks were annoying, need more snow up there/less wind. Chilly and windier than I thought it was going to be but the sun felt nice. We had both summits to ourselves before retreating down to Valley Way where we chased Strava crowns like the d**cheb*g runners we occasionally are. Sorry to the couple hikers that tried to talk to me as my AirPod was blaring thirst trap music. Didn’t see many people out yet, too early, but most of those I did see were in spikes. I wore spikes door to door.”

Trail: Valley Way, Osgood Trail, Airline

Conditions: Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular

“Out and back on Valley Way, Osgood (AT) up and down Madison, Airline up and down Adams. It was a fantastic day to be above treeline in the Northern Presidentials. I put spikes on to start the climb and ended up keeping them on the entire day. Snowshoes would have been helpful on the steeper parts of the ascent up Valley Way but never felt super necessary so mine got a free ride strapped to my pack. Spikes were definitely all that was needed once above treeline. The climb from the hut to the top of Madison didn't have much snow and spikes were sufficient for the ice and patches of snow on the rocks. Adams had a bit more snow coverage heading up airline but it really just made for a more consistent tread underfoot as opposed to the boulder field it is in the summer. Minimal wind and temps in the 20s meant you could actually hang out on the summits for a while and the views were spectacular.”

Trail: Valley Way, Osgood Trail, Airline, Gulfside, Jefferson Loop, Crawford Path, Monroe Loop, Eisenhower Loop

Conditions: Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Ice - Breakable Crust, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Snow - Drifts, Snow/Ice - Postholes

“Beautiful day out. Rare no wind day that stayed above 20 degrees the whole outing. Valley Way is packed down nicely, used snowshoes but mostly just for the televators. Around the tent site it is a little soft until your break treeline. Madison and Adams via Airline are crusty and packed nice. Microspikes were great here all the way down to Thunderstorm Junction. The walk over to Jefferson from here was tough work. Started it in spikes but the trail has been well post-holed all the way over so snowshoes came back on which made it a bit easier. Ascending Jefferson was awkward in snowshoes due to the side slope but was ultimately better option due to the knee-thigh deep posthole track until the top summit cone which is crusted over nicely. Mountaineering axe just took a ride for the day, the snow was soft enough that it never felt necessary to pull out. Snowshoes stayed on from here until over around the cog. The south side of Jefferson was much more hard-packed and could probably have been fine in microspikes. Mount Washington was a circus with lots of guide groups, saw more than 40 people on the summit at 12 pm. Switched to microspikes which carried us all the way to the car. The walk from Washington summit to Eisenhower was a highway and the most pleasant part of the day. Some pretty solid ice flows on the north face of Eisenhower put no issues with traction in microspikes. Eisenhower to Pierce was in better shape than expected although drifty in places, never felt the need to put snowshoes back on. Pierce down the Crawford path was bullet proof from all of the holiday weekend traffic and was a speedy trip to the car.”