Butt Sledding Bonanza on the Hancocks

Leaders
Collin May (B), Maxwell Buchanan (coB), Theresa Cloutier (B)
Program
Winter School
Type
Hiking
Terrain level
B
Trip date
Saturday, January 25th, 2025
Difficulty rating
Difficult (L4)
Prerequisites
Prior three-season hiking experience, including at least one 8+ mile hike of >2500t elevation gain in the last six months. There will be very cold winter conditions at the summit (<10℉ air temperature with -10℉ windchill) so layering experience is needed

Love hiking, but hate going downhill? Miss going sledding? On Saturday, we'll be hiking the Hancocks, known for a steep trail up, and phenomenal butt sledding down.

This is a 9.5mi loop featuring 2,600ft of elevation gain, with a steep grade. We'll be following the Hancock trail, which starts from the side of the Kancamagus Highway.

Route: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/new-hampshire/hancock-trail

We will require microspikes and possibly snowshoes - we will discuss at the pre-trip meeting on Thursday. In addition to traction, be prepared with extra layers, hot water bottles, and plenty of food. Temperatures will be very cold (<10℉ air temperature with -10℉ windchill).

There will be a mandatory pre-trip meeting at 6 pm on Thursday evening, and you'll be able to rent gear then. More information on this to follow after the lottery.

We will need a couple drivers for this trip! Please update your car status if you can drive (put "willing to rent" if you can rent — MIT provides discounted car rental, and we'll evenly split rental/gas costs).

Signup

Algorithm
first-come, first-serve
Maximum participants
7
Signups opened at
Jan. 22, 2025, noon
Signups closed at
Jan. 23, 2025, 11:59 p.m.
Notes
  1. What winter hiking experience do you have, if any, and when was it? (If lots, mention a couple relevant examples)
  2. What hikes of > 8 mi and > 2.5k feet elevation gain have you done recently?
  3. Sled, sledge, or sleigh?
  4. (Optional) Write a butt sledding haiku
Signups for this trip are closed.