Mosey up Madison: tough intro to above treeline hiking
- Leaders
- Blox Bloxie Bloxham (she/they) (C I S n't), Caitlin Fitchett (B coC)
- Program
- Winter School
- Type
- Hiking
- Terrain level
- C
- Trip date
- Monday, January 15th, 2024
- Difficulty rating
- Difficult
- Prerequisites
- Previous hikes of 8+ hours with 4000ft + elevation gain, good fitness, high stoke levels for unknown conditions
If you're keen for a bit of an exploration-adventure with time above treeline in potentially bitterly cold winds, then this hike is for you. We may not summit (trail conditions could be "interesting" and the windchill could biting) but we will explore the mountain!
The plan is to go up Airline and to descend via Valley Way. The hike is about 7.41 miles and has about 4077 feet of elevation.
This hike will be long, steep, and strenuous so a high level of physical fitness will be important for success on this trip. We also expect cold temps and moderate to high winds, so we will be practicing efficient movement through alpine terrain.
With snow and possible mixed perciptation forecast on Saturday, we're not sure what trail condtions will be like. You should be prepared for anything, from icey flows to deep drifts. We may need crampons and/or snowshoes.
It may make sense for us all to stay at Intervale on Sunday evening in order to get an early start.
Here's a map of the route: https://caltopo.com/m/JC5QG
Signup
- Algorithm
- first-come, first-serve
- Maximum participants
- 8
- Signups opened at
- Jan. 10, 2024, noon
- Signups closed at
- Jan. 11, 2024, 11:59 p.m.
- Notes
- Briefly describe your previous winter hiking experience. What's the coldest hike you've done?
- What's the most challenging hike you have done?
- Have you used snow-shoes or crampons before?
- Do you like type-2 fun?
- Are you able to spend Sunday night at Intervale? Will you be coming up from Boston or will you likely already be in NH (e.g. coming from another trip)?