 |
| Panoramic view from the summit of Whiteface |
This past Sunday the temperatures finally crept around 10ºF (balmy, compared to the negative temps and brutally cold wind chills of the days and weeks before), so I decided to get out my snowshoes and head up to the lakes region of New Hampshire to revisit one of my favorite lesser known summits, Whiteface Mountain in the Belknaps. It is overshadowed in both size and recognition by the New Hampshire 4000-footer of the same name and the well known summit in the Adirondacks, but it provides a great view of the Squam Lake area and the southern Whites from its exposed summit for not too much effort.
I had never made the trek to this mountain in winter before, so I was excited to see how the Whites would look with their snow-capped peaks from the summit. The "bomb cyclone" that roared through the state on Thursday dumped a tremendous amount of fresh snow on the trail, and with it being a lesser-visited summit, I knew I might have to break trail to the summit, yet another first experience for me.
 |
| Go as Gumby tells you |
I arrived at the parking pullout at the end of Belknap Mountain Road just before 1 p.m. and walked up to the trailhead where it became clear my snowshoes were going to be required. As usual, I saw the big brown "Whiteface Mountain Trail" sign on one of the trees at the start, but just below it was a tinier arrow-shaped "Trail Hike" sign pointing me into the woods. What I loved about it was that a Gumby figure was sitting atop the sign as well, pointing me the same way. I know it may have been someone's that was lost along the trail, but its positioning here was a humorous way to start the trip.
At the very beginning the trail was roughly broken out, most likely by the folks in the house next door to this first section entering the woods. A short ways past their backyard the trail had snowmobile tracks on it from them as well, but quickly the trail turned into untouched powder. It looked like they may have bare-booted a little ways up the trail, but once past the Lakes Region Conservation Trust kiosk, I was breaking fresh snow most of the rest of the trip.
 |
| Blue blazes made route finding easy the whole way up |
The trail was well-blazed, so there were no issues in keeping track of it even with the fresh snow blanketing the usual path. For the majority of the stretch up to the saddle between Piper and Whiteface mountains, the snow ran about 6-10" deep, making my footsteps feel like I was walking on pillows and waterbeds along the way. I learned quickly that breaking a trail gets the quads working overtime. This made me happy that I had picked a smaller mountain with shorter mileage for this first experience.
As I neared the saddle between the two peaks I ran into my first significant snow drifts of the trip, ranging in depth from about 2-3 ft. It was no fun watching my snowshoes sink into deep, soft snow with all my weight sinking with them. This made the final pitch up to the right turn to continue on the Whiteface Mountain Trail even more difficult than the trail breaking that led up to it.
From the saddle, I turned right to continue on the Whiteface Mountain Trail to the summit of Whiteface. Along this section, the trail ran the whole gamut from a crusty 2-3" to more 2-3 ft. drips. The deepest drifts came right where the trail heads into a small open field before continuing along the ATV route to the summit. Once I crossed the field, I was able to hike along some snowmobile tracks some of the way to the summit, while still breaking trail when the tracks would disappear in the blown over snow from the previous few days.
 |
| Snow capped peaks of the White Mountains in the distance |
At the summit, the snow was covered in a thin icy crust and not deep at all. There were several snowmobile tracks running along it that had broken the snow pack down to form a path. The view to the north was magnificent, with several snow-capped peaks in the Whites standing out. I enjoyed an hour on the summit all to myself before heading back down. As I had about a half-mile left to get back to the trailhead I ran into the only other hiker I saw that day. He thanked me for breaking trail as he continued to pack down the work I started. The descent from there was wonderful, gliding on my snowshoes on fluffy white snow, smoothing and packing the trail further the whole way down.
 |
| The trail was much more enjoyable on the way down! |
It was an interesting experience breaking a trail for the first time, one that makes me even more grateful for those folks that do it frequently. It's something I definitely don't have the legs to do on the bigger summits of the Whites, but it was a good to get my first taste of it on this little trip. As always, I can't recommend this lesser-known Whiteface enough. I've visited the summit three times and have never had to share the view with anyone. Happy hiking!
