For about a week I had been planning a long winter hike for early February. I wanted a clear day as the plan was to do Pierce, Eisenhower and maybe even Jackson. All of this of course body and weather permitting. The weather was looking for Saturday February 13. Minimal wind, clear skies in the morning sounds like a day for great views. I woke around 4 and began the drive to Crawford Notch at 5:00am expecting to start waking by 7:30am.
Mt Washington Hotel 
Cold!
I arrived in Crawford Notch around 7:15am to this view of the iconic Mt Washington Hotel. I’ve never stayed there but would love to one day. I had been watching the outside temp from time to time. Around Franconia Notch I noted -6. Chilly but not too bad. -10, -13, -15. When I reached the spot where I took the pic of the hotel, the temp was -16. 10 minutes down the road at the trailhead, it remained -16 degrees. I was prepared for this. I like synthetic base layers. I had that base on top and bottom. Synthetic socks covered by wool outer socks inside my Keen Targhee III hiking boots. Up top was a long sleeve tight synthetic base covered by a long sleeve not so tight synthetic base. Over that was an Under Armour thick pull over. For my hands I had thin thechnical timberlands and Seirus outer gloves. Over my head I pulled a Seirus balaclava followed by a Columbia beanie. Bundles up, ready to go!
My plan for the day was to hike Crawford Path the summit of Mt Pierce. Then continue on Crawford Path to the Eisenhower loop which would bring me to the summit of Mt Eisenhower. I would then Traverse the ridge back to Mt Pierce and decide if I go back down Crawford Path to the base or continue on to Mt Jackson via the Webster Cliff Trail. Big plans totaling 4000+ feel of elevation gain across 13 miles. I felt it was doable. I set out u Mt Pierce at 7:30am.
My pre-hike research revealed that Crawford Path to Pierce should be nicely packed with only Micro Spikes needed and not snowshoes. I put my spikes on about a quarter mile in. The path is beautiful in the winter, feeling like a tunnel of snow for much of it. A mix of steep and VERY steep with some nice short flats to recover on. I didn’t keep an eye on my Apple Watch but I think I summited Pierce around 9:30.
I can usually hear the summit of a 4000 footer before I realize I am close. The wind pics up and the sky gets progressively brighter. As the sky brightens the trees get shorter. The summit of Pierce was like nothing I had seen in person. A barren, snowy wasteland. The prevailing winds from the west are very evident. All the small alpine zone trees have and AMC signs have wind blown snow and ice caked on them.
I quickly scouted the trail to Eisenhower after rooting around in my pack trying to locate my backup battery charger for my phone. My iPhone typically lasts all day on a hike. Today in the -16 weather, it died part way up to the summit of Pierce. My scouting revealed that the continuation of Crawford Path from Pierce had been somewhat packed out but not a nicely as the initial ascent I had just completed. Might be doable. I made my way back up to the top of Pierce to scout the Webster Cliff trail to Mt Jackson. Maybe I could nix Eisenhower and bag Jackson instead, still getting in two 4000 footers on the day. No luck, that trail was no better then Crawford to Eisenhower, maybe a little worse actually. After hanging around on Pierce weighing my option for about 30 minutes, I decided to head for Eisenhower.
Its very deceiving to look over at Eisenhower from Pierce. Seems so close you can touch the summit cone. Its not the case. Its about 45 minutes of steep challenging terrain. I slipped down over a little ledge to trail. I encountered a mix of nice packed trail along with spots where I would sink a couple inches. I trudged on for about 25 minutes. Making it just ess than half way to Eisenhower. It was getting progressively more difficult and the wind was picking up on what was a pretty exposed ridge. My external water bottle had frozen at the opening and my thighs were showing signs of cramping. I keep another water bottle wrapped in my spare coat in my pack but this was not an optimal spot to rummage through without gloves. I made the decision to call it and head back to Pierce. it took my 25 minutes to get where I was but close to 40 to get back up the ridge to Pierce. Exhausting.
Somewhat dismayed by my decision and not getting Eisenhower or Jackson, I headed down Pierce via Crawford Path. I knew it was the right call, I just don’t like not getting what I set out to get.
In the image above: Pierce is blue, Eisenhower is yellow. Red is where I was when Eisenhower told me to go home. I’m glad I listened to the mountain. I will be back.
My day would have been much different had I brought snowshoes. I relied on trail reports to know I could do it in micro spikes. I WILL NEVER WINTER HIKE WITHOUT SNOWSHOES AGAIN. The conditions up high in the Presidentials change so quickly . A clear trail on the way up can have a 4′ snow drift across it on the way down. I will return with snowshoes and get to the top Eisenhower this month. Maybe Jackson as well. We’ll see.
Mountain Mike 
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