Shelburne Moriah Mountain

Trail: Road walk, Shelburne Trail, Kenduskeag Trail, bushwhack

Conditions: Ice - Blue, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular

“A hard earned summit today. 14 miles total including the 1 mile bushwhack, which was easy compared to the ridge. Not a ton of snow here, which made the ridge passable. A fresh inch fell today, making the branches we had to squeeze under snowy, but at least they weren’t too bent over and loaded, and no major blowdowns. I was worried about ice, but it was mostly crusty snow, which was tricky with the fresh stuff on top sliding and clumping on the snowshoes today. Going backwards downhill on some parts, some folks might make use of an axe and crampons if you don’t trust your balance. The trail was not too hard to follow but it would be nice if it got a trim to make it more passable in winter.”

Trail: Rattle River Trail

Conditions: Snow - Unpacked Powder

“Trail was broken out to the shelter, but not well packed. Unbroken above the shelter, but our group of three did a nice job of it. Not packed hard yet, so snowshoes still needed. We only made it about 3 miles from the road, and found a steep sidehill dropping to the right, into the river. Serious fall and avalanche hazard. We did not cross, and did not see an easy bypass. The trail is well packed until this point. Beautiful day for breaking out a fun trail, although shorter than planned.”

Trail: Rattle River Trail, Kenduskeag Trail

Conditions: Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow - Drifts

“If you are going to Shelburne Moriah and it has snowed since this review, plan for a full day slog through snow. Even with one person ahead of me that day, the steepest parts of rattle river trail were extremely tough with the loose broken snow. The majority of the traffic seems to stop at the shelter for winter camping, and very little goes further to pack out the trail. Kenduskeag trail is very tight without blazes and there are a number of ups and downs that collect a lot of deep drifted snow and overhanging snow in branches. I ran out of time and had to turn back before the summit not expecting how slow the pace would be.”