Sunday, January 21
Summits: Wildcat A, B, C, D; Carter Dome, South Carter, Middle Carter, Lethe
Start: Wildcat ski area
Finish: Joe Dodge Camp
Miles: 12.96
Elevation gain/loss: 6562′
After arriving later at Barnes Field than I meant to and sleeping in temps down to a windy 5 degrees, I wasn’t eager to get out of my cozy blanket nest when my alarm went off at 5am. I headed over to Pinkham Notch to suit up, and slowly but surely made my way to the Wildcat parking lot where I prepped and then headed out at 6am. It was cold and windy, but as I warmed up from the climb, I had to remove some layers. I wore snowshoes the entire day, both to support the uphill climbing and for the loosely packed trails. I made the first summit a little after sunrise, and caught some truly amazing light on Mt Washington and on Wildcat Ridge. The temperature was -2 actual and -28 windchill on the ridge.
I snowshoed the ridge, hitting all of the summits before dropping toward Carter Notch. The steep descent had some uncontrolled sliding and a few portions of sidehilling where I slide off the trail and into waist deep snow, but I made it to the bottom in good spirits. I decided to skip the hut, since I didn’t need water for my shorter traverse (and because I got spiders, dirt, and leaves in my last hut water). The climb up Carter Dome was steep and very slippery, but evened out after a while. The clouds of the morning had burned off and the sky was brilliantly blue! It was such a delight to have a crystal clear sunny day.
The trail was in good shape, though snowshoes were really recommended given the soft and lightly packed power. At the summit of the Dome, it was 1 degree actual, and at the summit of South Carter, it was 3, before I descended all the way back to the road, passing through Joe Dodge Camp, where it was 10 degrees.
I strapped my snowshoes onto my pack, and started road walking, putting out my thumb along the way. I got a hitch a bit past 19 Mile trailhead, after about 10 minutes of walking. The kind local man dropped me off at my car at Wildcat, 3 miles up the road. I started my favorite hat and gloves drying as the car warmed up, and reset my pack for my next hike. I headed over to Pinkham Notch to change in a warm and private place, since Wildcat was hopping! I grabbed hot water from upstairs, but did not realize that the hot water was not filtered the same way as the cold water downstairs – it ended up being sulfuric. I headed out to drive the 50 minutes to the Mt Garfield TH, with a stop for gas on the way.
Transcending Mountains 