Hiked March 22, 2008 by Tim and Valerie
Conditions: The snow was completely solid as we started from the car onto the UNH trail. The first half-mile or more went very quickly as we cruised over the packed snow. Then, we turned onto the trail for the East Ledges. All the previous tracks went away, and here we were... working our way blaze-to-blaze at some points, no sign of the trail anywhere. Working our way around several blowdowns and blockages, etc. At some points, the trail was icy crust over a few inches of powder, so you just "broke through" and sunk in a couple inches. In other places, we were more than a foot deep in drifted powder. The snow bridges were starting to collapse for the Spring, so we could see deep down into the brooks. All this, of course, is on top of the 4-5 feet of packed snow on the trails. About two thirds of the way up, the drifts got ridiculous, and we put in our snowshoes.
We didn't meet any people until right before the ledges. By this point, Tim was really tired of breaking trail. Views from the ledges were fantastic. Weather was warm and the winds were apparently being blocked by the rest of the mountain. It was beautiful, and we took our time to eat a snack and adjust equipment. The views of Chocorua, Paugus and Passaconaway were magnificent.
We probably met 8 people or so heading up as we were heading back down. Due to this traffic, it was like a totally different trail than it had been in the morning - solid packed and easy walking. We made it out in record time - kept the snowshoes on the whole way. All those other people don't know how lucky they were to show up in the parking lot after Tim. :-)