North Moat Mountain

Trail: Moat Mountain Trail

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

“You're welcome. Middle to north is now broken out with a crew wearing snowshoes. Of course, there's already been more snow so bring your shoes. At the southern end, Moat Mountain trail is hard ice and boney. Microspikes were my choice though a few in our group braved snow shoes on the ice and rock. Approaching Middle Moat, the snow became deeper and unconsolidated. Snowshoes helped. We had a group following in microspikes but there was a lot of wasted energy. The trail between Middle and North was not broken out. Depth ranged from 6 inches to 2.5 ft in a few limited spots. The final push to North Moat has several steep rocky scrambles with snow and ice. Hands and some upper body strength are required. We all went up with the snowshoes on but in hindsight, microspikes would have been more stable. You'll need to be comfortable with icy scrambles to complete this section. Once we found the trail off North Moat, the hike out was fast and in snowshoes until about 1.5 to 2 miles from the trailhead where microspikes were better.”

Trail: Moat Mountain Trail

Conditions: Snow - Trace/Minimal Depth, Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Snow - Drifts, Snow/Ice - Postholes

“Saw a few people descending from South Moat on our way up but otherwise had the ridge to ourselves today. Trail between the peaks is broken out by two sets of snowshoes but the wind and drifting snow has probably erased our tracks on the summit ledges. If going north >south, you might need to take your snowshoes off for some of the descents, but leaving them on worked fine going south to north. First time on the moats, once the morning snow blew out the views were spectacular. Great day to be out.”

Trail: Moat Mountain Trail

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

“Trail is very well packed and wide out to Diana's baths. After that it goes to standard single track. Trail was broken till about a mile from the to when we hit long stretches of thigh high drifts. Our group of 5 broke it out the rest of the way to the top. I'd still recommend snowshoes, even with our efforts the snow is still very powdery. Last hundred feet to the summit is very rocky, might be worth switching to spikes or bare boots at that point.”