We'll be heading to the Northern side of the Presidential Range for a challenging but beautiful hike with lots of above treeline exposure and potential views (if weather allows).

We'll go up the Castle Trail, pop above treeline, summit Mt Jefferson, traverse to Mt Adams and go down using Lowe's Path. The route is about 11mi with 5000ft of elevation gain with 4mi of above treeline travel.

This route is not commonly traveled in winter, so there's a chance we'll be breaking trail the whole way up. This is a great hike for people who have some winter hiking experience and are looking to do a challenging hike.

Prerequisites

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

• Have done a ≥ 8 mile long winter hike
• Have done a hike with ≥ 4000 feet of elevation gain in the last six months (in a single hike, not cumulatively)
• Have previous above treeline experience (i.e. MITOC C-terrain)
• Be comfortable with full face coverings (we might have 50-70mph winds above treeline)

Because of the weather forecast (supposed to cold and quite windy), prior above-treeline experience and comfort with full face coverings is required! Prior experience with snowshoes and crampons will be helpful, but it’s not required.

If you do satisfy these prereqs, you’re a great fit for this trip! If you don’t satisfy the prereqs, but you want to join the trip anyways, you are welcome to enter the trip lottery — please send an email to the leaders if this is the case. Depending on your past experience, we can be flexible on prereqs. We want to make sure that this hike is safe and comfortable for everyone who joins.

Logistics

There will be a required pre-trip meeting at 6:00pm on Thursday to review gear and logistics, in the student center (W20). We’ll send details by email after the lottery runs but be prepared to bring your full face covering system with you on Thursday.

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).

Because of the difficulty of the trip, we will need to either leave very early from Cambridge (5am or earlier) or to start from the MITOC Intervale cabin (leaders are keyholders).

Costs

Please budget for the following expenses: $5 trip fee, $30-50 carpooling costs, possible gear rentals (capped at $15 plus trip fee), possible stay at Intervale ($5-10) and any food you buy along the way.