Mount Israel

Trail: Wentworth Trail

Conditions: Dry Trail

“Humid at the start with a passing rain shower. Some good pitches to it. Good look over at Sandwich Mtn. from the summit.”

Trail: Wentworth Trail

Conditions: Dry Trail, Leaves - Significant/Slippery

“Another nice outing with the OTHH, ten of us to start. One did a face plant on an area with accumulated leaves from the fall, mashing his forehead into soft dirt. We cleaned up the face, applied a bandage, and he elected to descend. No other damage done, we learned later. It may well have been the abundance of leaves at that point that caused the fall. As the hiking season goes on, foot traffic and weather will grind up the leaves, but for now we must be mindful of them. At the top, we mostly skipped the view ledges just out of the woods, often mistaken as the summit. Another 10 easy minutes further on brought us to the real summit (with cairn). After a brief pause there, we continued another 100 yards or so to a slightly lower open ledge view, this one with a nicer view of Chocorua to the east along with all the other Paugus and Sandwich range peaks.”

Trail: Wentworth Trail

Conditions: Wet Trail, Ice - Blue, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Snow/Ice - Postholes, Slush

“Fresh powdery snow of about 3-5 inches. We were the first in the trail for the day so we started in snowshoes and switched to spikes. Spikes were snow-balling badly, especially on the descent. Steeper sections were solid ice under powder. This made for very slippery conditions. At times we wished we had packed crampons. I think there was evidence of post-holing towards the summit, from the thaw earlier in the week, but the fresh snowfall made it hard to tell if they were holes or just uneven terrain covered by fresh snow. Until the ice melts, crampons may be needed at times. Spikes for the rest of it.”