Mount Pierce (Clinton)

Trail: Crawford Path, Webster Cliff Trail, Eisenhower Loop

Conditions: Ice - Black, Ice - Breakable Crust, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Snow/Ice - Monorail (Stable), Snow/Ice - Monorail (Unstable)

“Deteriorating monorail until 3000ft elevation. After that, trail is great! Spikes door to door. Between pierce and eisenhower, the trail is icy but spikes were sufficient with some care.”

Trail: Webster-Jackson Trail, Webster Cliff Trail, Crawford Path

Conditions: Ice - Black, Snow - Trace/Minimal Depth, Wet Trail, Ice - Blue, Wet/Slippery Rock, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Snow - Drifts, Snow/Ice - Monorail (Stable), Snow - Wet/Sticky, Snow/Ice - Postholes

“Barebooted first 0.2 then spikes until mile 2. Snowshoes up to final ascent to Jackson then back to spikes because of the new snow. Coming down to go to Pierce I used an axe to help otherwise it would have been a problem. Snowshoes all the way to Pierce summit. Switched back to spikes to go down. When the snow started melting, I went bareboot to the car because of it clumping immediately on my spikes. Thankfully I didn't fall on any ice the rest of the way. All the snow at the bottom was gone when I got back. Ten degree start forty degree finish.”

Trail: Cog Rail Trail, Crawford Path, Monroe Loop, Eisenhower Loop, Webster Cliff Trail, Webster Jackson Trail

Conditions: Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Ice - Blue, Wet/Slippery Rock, Ice - Breakable Crust, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Snow/Ice - Monorail (Stable), Snow - Wet/Sticky, Mud - Significant, Snow/Ice - Monorail (Unstable), Snow - Spring Snow, Snow/Ice - Postholes, Slush

“After climbing up the Cog in snowshoes, it is boney or fully open enough from 5,500’ on up to bareboot all the way across the summit of Washington. Between Washington and Monroe, crampons were definitely good to have on. I went with full crampons (Grivel G10s) this time of year given the hardness of the ice. You can get by with micros, but the actual purchase of crampons helps a lot. There are many fully open sections on southfacing trails, but plenty of ice and still a significant snowfield. The northeast side on Monroe is still very snowy and steep, but bare on top. We took off crampons after the summit of Monroe and barebooted all the way to the northeast side of Eisenhower. There are a few sections of deep snow amongst the trees, but it’s not that bad and has a firm monrail. The summit cone of Eisenhower is totally bare. Once back in the trees on the south side of Eisenhower there is still plenty of deep sections of snow. Snowshoes are still very helpful here and make moving a lot easier. Except for the summit of Pierce, it was snowshoes all the way to Jackson. For the most part the summit of Jackson is completely free of snow and ice, but as soon as you are back in the trees on Webster-Jackson, crampons are very necessary and we kept them on until we could see the road in Crawford Notch. It was definitely good to get these done while there is a decent amount of snow and monorail left, but things are going to get very messy soon!”