Mount Zealand

Trail: Zealand Road, Hale Brook Trail, Lend a Hand Trail, Twinway

Conditions: Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow - Drifts, Snow - Wet/Sticky

“Set out with a huge day in mind for this single season attempt. Barebooted the road and went to spikes at Hale Brook, then snowshoes at the sidehill section when it gets softer. Could probably have gone to them a little sooner. Lend a Hand had semi recent tracks and at least 2 sets today. Snowshoes for sure here, but not too bad. Up to Zeacliff is firm but snowshoes for the televators. Well packed all the way to Zealand, but softer past Zeacliff. Saw a few others who wanted to do the Bonds as well, but they all turned around at Zealand or shortly after. I decided to press on and at least check it out. Tree misery past Zealand with many in your face or sticking out wanting to trip you. Once coming out of the trees at Guyot the trail disappeared with 40ish mph winds and sideways snow. That was it for me. Wouldn’t have been safe even with a group. Expect to be breaking a lot of trail from Guyot on. When does Lincoln Woods reopen? Also, everything down low was getting super sticky. The roadwalk out sucked as it was softening up bigtime. Hopefully returning cold temps firm it back up.”

Trail: Zealand, Twinway, Lend-A-Hand, Hale Brook

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

“Zealand Rd is barebootable, but above the Hut, despite considerable snowshoe traffic, the Twinway to Zealand is still very soft. Only one set of snowshoe tracks on Lend-A-Hand before mine, multiple boot tracks on Hale Brook Trail overlaying the earlier snowshoe imprints.”

Trail: Zealand Road, Zealand Trail, Twinway, Zealand Spur, Bondcliff Trail, West Bond Spur

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

“The trail was beautifully packed by a sled track all the way to the hut. At that point we used snowshoes mostly for the televators- the trail was packed well enough to use spikes up to Zeacliff. Twinway was broken out but soft- difficult to get through all of the trees grabbing at you and your gear all the way to the opening at Guyot. There were a few drifted sections around Zealand where we had to look at a map to see where the trail went. It was a bit drifted heading up bond, and completely unbroken from Bond summit down. Luckily it was just a small section of breaking trail until it opens up again and the wind had swept away all of the powder. Heading up Bondcliff we took off the snowshoes but needed spikes as the snow had a fine ice glaze over top. Due to the trail closure at Lincoln Woods, we turned around at Bondcliff and went back through the grabby tree tunnel. Great day with a strong crew.”