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Vose Spur Bushwhack kinda failed attempt 2-17-07

MarcHowes

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Date(s) Hiked: 2-17-07

Trails(s) Hiked: Sawyer River Rd, Signal Ridge, Carrigan Notch, Bushwhack

Total Distance: ~13 mi RT

Difficulty: Highest degree of difficulty

Conditions: well pack trail, however bushwhack had between crotch deep and chest deep snow.

Special Required Equipment: Snowshoes, Crampons, Snow Blower would have been nice…

Trip Report:

Have you ever gone so far for so long and come so close… like, I’m talking ridiculously close to your goal but not made it? This is one of those stories…

This trip is one that won't soon be forgotten, if ever.

The goal: Vose spur. The date: Saturday February 17 2007. Not three days after the Valentines day Nor'easter dumped over two feet of snow on the Whites donna, dRitter and I (vftt) all embarked on this wacky adventure.

Arm had broken out the Carrigan Notch trail the day before in an attempt on Vose spur. He made it to the big rock at which most people commence the normal bushwhack, but had to turn back due to a lack of time. As Arm described and I would soon experience, breaking a trail in 2 feet of snow is no walk in the park.

We began the trip at 8:15 at the 302/Sawyer river rd intersection. We started the hike shortly before another group of VFTTers began their ascent up Carrigan. The trip went for the most part smoothly up to the intersection of Carrigan Notch Tr and Signal Ridge. Donna and I had been smoothing out the "moguls" in the trail on the way up (this was important later). The other group caught up to us just before the intersection. We stopped briefly before going our separate ways. My feet hurt badly from the snow shoes. I have no idea why considering they were fine the weekend before. I had a nasty blister growing on my heel too which attempts to path were unsuccessful.

Carrigan Notch trail was pretty flat; luckily Arm had broken this out otherwise it would have been a complete nightmare. Some spots were drifted over, by by and large the trail was clear and mogul free. We reached the rock after hiking 3 hours and about 5.5 miles.

Damon led the way into the thick spruce as the horrid bushwhack began. It didn't take long for us to get into open woods. Our pace was painfully slow. Snow at this point was a good 2 feet deep and not easily packed through. I don't know how long it took us (I think about an hour) but we came upon a set of boulders about 300 vertical feet from the start of the bushwhack. It was decided at this point that we should proceed without the snowshoes and instead bare boot the deep snow. This was a wise decision as it increased our speed considerably. I took charge and literally swam through the crotch deep snow making our way through mostly open woods (there was the occasional spruce mess but they weren't overall too bad). Great care was taken to observe which ways were best to get us out of the spruce traps.

It took us a while but we finally happened upon a herd path which was made obvious by the broken branches and semi clear path. At 3000' we happened upon a ridge with a herd path which we followed up through ever deepening snow. At some points the snow was chest deep. We had to fight for every foot of gain. Some places it took a whole minute just to go two feet. I bulldozed a path up the ridge until an open spot appeared. It was the fabled Talus field! A small "field" of vegetation free rocks! This would turn out to be the deepest snow we would encounter. It was over my head! I had to cut blocks of snow from the drift (with my hands) and toss them down the hill to clear a path, sort of like making snow bricks! As I cut through the drift special care needed to be made not to trigger an avalanche. It is important to note that during the entire whack we would encounter times where a 10+' diameter section of snow around the leader would "crack" and sink a fraction of an inch accompanied with a "woomph!" sound.

The talus field was a welcomed sight as it meant we were getting near the top. But the worst was yet to come. After the talus field we proceeded up the hill only to find an insanely steep section. The sight of this was quite demoralizing but we trudged through anyways. More of those sinking circles of snow would occur in this section, only it was more nerve wracking since they would sink deeper here as the terrain was much steeper.

Numerous times passed where we thought we were at the summit only to notice once we rose over the hill that there was even more to the climb. Blue skies were visible over the "horizon" which further enticed us.

Finally we reached a flat area which was the "summit area" It had taken us 4.5 hours to go .9 miles and climb about 1600 feet (yes the whack rose 1600 feet in .9 miles! I told you it was steep). At this point the three of us were completely burned out. I had broken trail most of the way since we ditched the snow shoes and I was completely out of steam. Even following my trail break wasn't easy for Damon or donna as even though I had moved a lot of the snow still a great deal of packing was to be done!

This is where the story takes a turn for the worse. We were at the flat summit area but time was running out and we needed to turn back very soon. Donna and Damon gave me 5 minutes to find the canister before we turned back. I dashed into the snow on my search but found nothing. After a while I was called to turn around and come back. I had no idea how far I was from the true summit or if I was actually on it. The canister was nowhere to be found. It looked like there was a small mound maybe 50 feet away from me that was a few feet higher than where I was, but there was a stand of spruces which resembled prison bars standing between me and that spot. But seeing that I didn’t know if this even was the summit or not I had to do what was right, I had to turn back.

We descended very quickly using the time honored butt-slide method. It took us about an hour to get back to the boulder, then another 2:40 to get back to the car. We didn’t run out of usable twilight until about a mile from Sawyer river road. This is where the mogul squashing is important because we didn’t want to be tripping on them in the barely light twilight hours!

Later I would find out from donna who had spoken with Arm that we were a mere 30 feet from the canister (Arm climbed Vose Sunday along his and our trail break and found it). Its an awful feeling knowing that you traveled so far and through such difficult terrain to only miss your goal by 30 feet!

There is still debate as to if this should count as a NE100 peak considering how ludicrously close we were or not. Tentatively I am not counting it, and instead planning on getting it next weekend.



Pictures are here: http://hoosactunnel.net/nonhoosac/NH/Vose070217/


P2170078_t.jpg
 

montvm

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I say you count it!

Wow the boulder feild is impressive, 1600 ft in .9, thats crazy. You guys are hardcore!


I think that you earned it, only 30ft, its a gimme if you ask me.
 

montvm

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Ya that seems to be the consensus of opinion on other forums too.. I would really like to get my name in that summit register tho..

You know that you did it, and people at the forums that you belong know as well. Next time that you hear of someone going, (if your not busy or decide not to go), have them put your name in the registry for you, you've earned it
 

MarcHowes

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My friend Arm did it the day after us, Dunno if he wrote our names or not considering he is still out hiking :)

I already have plans to head back Saturday with a friend. Hopefully they wont fall through! This is like a quest for me :)
 

Mike P.

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While every one feels you did it, as you can tell, when you have the bug, you want to go back & sign the register so you know you did it. Good luck this weekend.
 

walkerd2

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It gets bad. After doing Passaconaway we realized we didn't make it to the actual summit. We thought we were there and stopped short. It's been driving me crazy, I have to go back. I'm getting sick of say I've done 42 with an asterisk.
 

walkerd2

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Did you miss the spur path? or did you just miss that little leg of the spur path on the spur path?

We came up from the Kancamangus and stopped at the spur path to the view. On the map it looked like the summit so we turned around and headed back.

I guess the actual summit is up the trail a little ways.
 

MarcHowes

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oh ya its really close to there. that spur path is a little nothing, you Prolly missed the summit by like 20 feet at the most. Passaconaway's summit is pretty flat.
 

Mike P.

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20 feet & about six feet of elevation. I seem to recall a rock step near the beginning of the spur that makes a nice seat if you can get by the fact you're sitting in the trail....
 

walkerd2

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Passaconaway's summit is pretty flat.

And apparently pretty boring too (I wouldn't actually know, I never made it there), but I might do Whiteface again on my way up since it's been a while. Might as well mix it up.
 
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