There’s Still Snow On The Mountains! Mount Sunapee & Mount Waumbek

PHOTO: Last weekend on Mount Waumbek Eric Rathbun completed his second Grid–hiking all 48 New Hampshire 4,000 footers in every month. He completed his first grid way back in March of 2011. Spring is here but it looks like and feels like winter in the White Mountains. There was still three feet of snow on Mount Waumbek, elevation 4,006 feet.

by Amy Patenaude
Outdoor/Ski Writer

The grass is green and the Daffodils are blooming everywhere but above higher elevations you will still find snow. Above elevation 3000 feet you’re going to find a lot of snow. The White Mountains are going to hold snow well into May.
Becca and I met Saturday morning at Mount Sunapee in Newbury. The ski resort has closed, their last day was April 7th but many of their trails are still covered with snow. We weren’t the only ones with the idea to skin up the mountain and ski back down. There were six or seven other cars in the parking lot.
We went up the skinning route following the Ridge Trail to the summit. We passed by one fellow who told us that this was his first season climbing up to ski and he was loving getting into shape doing it.
About halfway up the mountain we noticed spots of natural snow beneath the shade of the trees and the higher we climbed there was more. Not enough to ski in the trees but since it has been crazy warm and sunny here I didn’t think we’d see any.
On the summit we met two other guys with their dogs and they said they were on their second lap up the mountain.

The sun was now shining bright and it warmed up a lot and the views over the now ice-less Lake Sunapee were grand. We chose to ski down Skyway Ledges to enjoy the big view north and made turns around the few ledgy bare spots. We then hiked up the snowless pass to the top of North Peak so we could ski down Lynx. The steep Lynx Trail had more than two feet of snow and it was just awesome turning all the way back to the car.
The next day I drove to Jefferson to meet friends to hike up Mount Waumbek. This was a special hike to join our friend Eric as he completed his second Grid. The Grid is hiking all 48 of the mountains on the New Hampshire 4,000 footer list every single month. Maybe you have seen the bumper sticker “576”–that’s 48 mountains times 12 months.
There was only one other car in the parking lot besides ours. Bria, Jeremy, Bryan and I met Eric at the Star King Trailhead at 7:45 am. It was cool and cloudy with a short promise of sun before afternoon rain would arrive.

All five of us had snowshoes tied to our backpacks. There was no snow in sight but there was plenty of mud and running water down the trail.
The trail remained bare as we walked beneath the bare hardwood trees. A little more than a mile up the mountain trees are mostly spruce. The shade of the conifers prevent the snow from melting. Soon we put micro-spikes on our boots because the snow on the trail had been packed down to form ice. And not long after that we were hiking on hard packed snow.
Now the night before it had been cold and we were able to walk right on top of the trail’s packed out snow. But if the temperatures were warm this snow would not have supported our weight and we would have had to use our snowshoes. It is better to have snowshoes and not need them than to need them and not have them. There was nearly three feet of snow as we neared the top of Star King. No Joke!
On top of Star King the sun was really starting to warm things up and some of the ledges were bare where the hot sun had melted the snow. The Presidential Range was in view but Mount Washington was covered with clouds.
From Mount Star King to Mount Waumbek the last mile went by quickly and we cheered for Eric when he touched the summit cairn and I took his photo at the trail sign. We walked past the summit for a couple minutes to reach the outlook. Here we took a good break and ate a snack.

It was around 10:30 am when we left the summit. The Canadian Gray Jay found us and the bird acted very hungry and was happy to steal a piece of my sandwich.
The sun was getting hot. We passed by a lot of people headed up the trail as we hiked back down. Most, like us, carried snowshoes on their packs and wore spikes on their feet. A few people looked like they would be in for a slippery wet hike.
It was a quick trip down the trail. We did stop to clear a few trees that had blown down across the trail. Jeremy and Bria pulled their hand saws out of their packs and he went to town cutting the tree up so we could drag it off the trail.
We celebrated Eric’s achievement eating pizza at the Old Corner Store in Jefferson. They make the best pizza. Every time we hike Waumbek we eat their pizza.
Have Fun.