Cardigan, NH: 2/18/06

[awf170]

Originally Posted by David Metsky

A map would be pretty handy for this.

Hah, a map. What purpose would that serve?

We had Goodman's book with us and still couldn't find crap.

[riverc0il]

Originally Posted by awf170

Hah, a map. What purpose would that serve?

We had Goodman's book with us and still couldn't find crap.

AMC southern NH trail guide has a good map of cardigan, i don't think the ski trails are on there though but a good topo is helpful. i think i remember there being trail maps in the AMC lodge but i haven't been there in years and could be wrong. i know i have seen maps with the ski trails on them before.

[David Metsky]

Originally Posted by riverc0il

AMC southern NH trail guide has a good map of cardigan, i don't think the ski trails are on there though but a good topo is helpful. i think i remember there being trail maps in the AMC lodge but i haven't been there in years and could be wrong. i know i have seen maps with the ski trails on them before.

Yes, the ski trails are on the AMC map. They're not always signed well in real life, but the maps are quite accurate.

-dave-

[riverc0il]

Originally Posted by David Metsky

Yes, the ski trails are on the AMC map. They're not always signed well in real life, but the maps are quite accurate.

-dave-

well then that explains where i saw them haven't pulled out that guide for a while now since i don't get down to SoNH very often any more.

[Marc]

Ha, yeah I still had a blast. It was more or less a winter hiking/ski mountaineering tour than anything else. The pictures I took of Austin skiing were on concrete packed powder. Next time we go over there were sticking to the damn ski trails if we can find the freakin things.

BTW, the Duke goes up Firescrew and Alexandria goes up Cardigan. We saw one sign for the Alexandria off the summit of Cardigan and it point towards a cliff that def. wasn't skiable and probably was too steep to scramble up even in dry conditions. Oh well. Won't stop us from touring again this weekend, that's for damn sure.

[David Metsky]

Like I said, the Alexandria trail doesn't start at the summit. You need to go down about 1/4 mile before you hit the junction. Alexandria ski trails starts there, well down in the trees. Getting from the summit to the start of the trail is left up to the reader.

-dave-

[powers]

I took my wife and my dog, Riley, up there on sunday. REI had a big hiking trip going on when we got there so we were in the middle of that headed up. This is the first time she ever used AT gear and loved it. We have shoed up and skied down before but she thought skins were alot easier. Should have taken a left headed up and taken the Cathedral ledge/forest or whatever its called and that would have dropped you off at the top of the Alexandrea trail. Lots of soft, fluffy snow. If you were really adventurous, you could have dropped into the drainage below Firescrew and hit some cliff jumps but the problem is that there isn't any good trail leading out. The Holt is there but its on the wrong side. Learned that one the hard way. You can ski some open stuff on the west side of the summit behind the ranger cabin. Not too bad. If you want to be really cool you could skin up the old ski area across from the fish hatchery. Look on a map/NELSAP and you will see an open trail covered in powder. You can kind of see it driving south on 93 looking off to the east. I have X-C to the bottom of it but it may still be good to ski........