Looking to venture above treeline? Join us for a fun and beautiful and magnificent and glorious adventure up Mt. Madison, one of the peaks in the Northern Presidentials in the White Mountains! Madison has plenty of above-treeline travel, with rough terrain and breathtaking views.

Route

We'll be doing an out-and-back via Valley Way. The hike is about 8 miles and 4100' of elevation gain, with about a mile of above-treeline travel. This is a significant amount of elevation, so you should be in good physical shape.

Prerequisites

We don't have strict/inflexible prerequisites, but as a guideline, you should:

• Have done at least 2 MITOC B-level (below treeline, in the White Mountains or similar) winter hikes (or equivalent), at least one in temperatures below 20°F.

• Be in good physical shape: you should have comfortably done a hike of >= 8 miles and >= 3500 ft of elevation gain in the last 12 months, and feel comfortable maintaining a >= 1.5mph pace with infrequent breaks.

If you don't satisfy both prereqs above, you're still welcome to enter the lottery for this trip, but please email the leaders briefly summarizing your winter / 3-season hiking experience / fitness routine, so we can make sure that this trip is a good fit for you.

Clothing

Elaborating a bit on clothing: it can get very cold and windy in the Northern Presidentials, so you need appropriate clothing, including being able to cover all exposed skin (e.g. balaclava + ski goggles), having boots and gloves/mittens that are warm enough, and having wind-proof upper and lower layers (like a rain coat / rain pants, or a shell jacket / shell pants). This is not the right trip to find out that your clothing isn't warm enough for hiking in < 20°F weather, so you should have some prior experience with your clothing setup in colder temperatures.

Logistics

There will be a required pre-trip meeting at 6:00pm on Thursday to review gear and logistics (if you're renting gear, try and do so beforehand at 5:30pm). Expect to leave around 5:30am on Saturday. We'll send details by email after the lottery runs.

Expenses

Budget $5 for the trip fee, $15 for gear rentals, and $30-50 for car costs. Financial aid is available for MIT undergrads.