Date(s) Hiked: 01 - 24 - 2009
Trails(s) Hiked: Corridor 11 Snowmobile trail, Haystack Road, North Twin Trail, Old North Twin Trail annex from bridge on Haystack Road back to corridor 11
Total Distance: approx, 10.5 miles, no current mileage available for the extra winter walk from 7 Dwarfs to the current North Twin trailhead
Difficulty: Moderate +
Conditions: cold, very cold, hard packed snow now, frozen water crossings deeper snow up high & drifts, typical winter. A couple of blowdowns, had to knell under a couple but no crawling
Special Required Equipment: Many people we saw wore goggles, balaclavas, facemask, snowshoes needed except when on snowmobile path, may be packed down now. poles very helpful, crampons & ice axe were not needed.
Trip Report: Saw Climbing Stallion and other members of the BMT crew Friday night at Carlson's a nice motel in Twin Mt. Saturday morning started at 21 degrees & got colder all day. I met Mike at Mountain Bean & after a bit of breakfast we were on our way up the road to 7 Drawfs. We parked at our spots & while getting ready ran into Kevin & Emma. (Emma is his dog) Kevin is a regular on VFTT. We thought he was at the wrong trailhead but as we learned later, his group was about a half hour ahead of us.
Kevin joined us & at 7:45, we were on our way. We followed the snowmobile trail from 7 Dwarfs follwing the notes from last weeks report on VFTT from Rocket21. We stayed on the snowmobile path instead of taking the snowshoe path on teh way out & we ended up with a longer road walk. At the summer trailhead, Mike & Kevin put on their snowshoes but I waited until we were on the bushwhack between the first two crossings.
On the bushwhack we were passed by two guys we later caught near the top, we said our hellos & kept going, as we got higher it kept getting colder & the snow got deeper. Just under the first lege that offers a small view, we met the first two people we saw on their way down. They recommended goggles. Mike added his face mask to what he had on & I added some hand warmers to my gloves & rearranged my windbloc balaclava.
From the main rocky ledge to the summit in summer is usually semi-procted by 5-8 foot trees. With the snow, the trees were more like scrub & did not shield us from the wind or cold. While the peaks look a bit different in winter than in summer, out of all my winter trips (38 NH 4Ks, southern New England & a hand full of Catskills) North Twin changed the most, from a wooded peak with a couple of views to a ridge with a couple of 100 yards of exposed scrub walking. Gust were in upper 20's I estimate, a couple of times I had check my balance but nothing where you were knocked over.
By now the temp was in the single digits or colder. Kevin was a few minutes ahead of us & Emma was a bit cold, the first time on 32 winter 4K's I used handwarmers. Mike & I stayed on the top for maybe 5 or 6 minutes, enough time to eat a quick bar, add a layer & check out the view on Galehead & South Twin were we knew other friends were hiking. While it took about 4 1/2 hours to summit, we made much better time on the way out, getting back in under 3 hours.
Trails(s) Hiked: Corridor 11 Snowmobile trail, Haystack Road, North Twin Trail, Old North Twin Trail annex from bridge on Haystack Road back to corridor 11
Total Distance: approx, 10.5 miles, no current mileage available for the extra winter walk from 7 Dwarfs to the current North Twin trailhead
Difficulty: Moderate +
Conditions: cold, very cold, hard packed snow now, frozen water crossings deeper snow up high & drifts, typical winter. A couple of blowdowns, had to knell under a couple but no crawling
Special Required Equipment: Many people we saw wore goggles, balaclavas, facemask, snowshoes needed except when on snowmobile path, may be packed down now. poles very helpful, crampons & ice axe were not needed.
Trip Report: Saw Climbing Stallion and other members of the BMT crew Friday night at Carlson's a nice motel in Twin Mt. Saturday morning started at 21 degrees & got colder all day. I met Mike at Mountain Bean & after a bit of breakfast we were on our way up the road to 7 Drawfs. We parked at our spots & while getting ready ran into Kevin & Emma. (Emma is his dog) Kevin is a regular on VFTT. We thought he was at the wrong trailhead but as we learned later, his group was about a half hour ahead of us.
Kevin joined us & at 7:45, we were on our way. We followed the snowmobile trail from 7 Dwarfs follwing the notes from last weeks report on VFTT from Rocket21. We stayed on the snowmobile path instead of taking the snowshoe path on teh way out & we ended up with a longer road walk. At the summer trailhead, Mike & Kevin put on their snowshoes but I waited until we were on the bushwhack between the first two crossings.
On the bushwhack we were passed by two guys we later caught near the top, we said our hellos & kept going, as we got higher it kept getting colder & the snow got deeper. Just under the first lege that offers a small view, we met the first two people we saw on their way down. They recommended goggles. Mike added his face mask to what he had on & I added some hand warmers to my gloves & rearranged my windbloc balaclava.
From the main rocky ledge to the summit in summer is usually semi-procted by 5-8 foot trees. With the snow, the trees were more like scrub & did not shield us from the wind or cold. While the peaks look a bit different in winter than in summer, out of all my winter trips (38 NH 4Ks, southern New England & a hand full of Catskills) North Twin changed the most, from a wooded peak with a couple of views to a ridge with a couple of 100 yards of exposed scrub walking. Gust were in upper 20's I estimate, a couple of times I had check my balance but nothing where you were knocked over.
By now the temp was in the single digits or colder. Kevin was a few minutes ahead of us & Emma was a bit cold, the first time on 32 winter 4K's I used handwarmers. Mike & I stayed on the top for maybe 5 or 6 minutes, enough time to eat a quick bar, add a layer & check out the view on Galehead & South Twin were we knew other friends were hiking. While it took about 4 1/2 hours to summit, we made much better time on the way out, getting back in under 3 hours.
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