Cannon

January 3, 2014

Andy, Claudia, and I got up early and hit the trail from Lafayette Campground at 06:30 under headlamp. Our plan was to hike Cannon, and then traverse the Kinsman Ridge to climb both North and South Kinsman peaks. The cold temperatures and snow conditions had other ideas though. We tramped through the empty campground in our snowshoes and began climbing up towards Cannon. It was brutally cold at about -18 deg C, but the exertion of breaking trail in the fresh powder still had us stop for a de-layer break within the first hour. As we climbed higher though, the winds, blowing snow, and elevation caused us to put the layers back on. Most of the climb was fairly straight forward with lots of switchbacks, although the narrow, poorly marked trail was occasionally hard to follow in the fresh snow. We took turns breaking trail all the way up to the ridge where once again we felt cold, so suited up in more layers and shell pants. The junction prior to the final pitch of Cannon was sheltered, so we decided that we would run up, tag the summit, and descend back down for a break. The final ascent was fairly gradual and we arrived on the summit at the three hour mark to a bit of sunshine and a tall tower in the blowing wind and extreme cold temperatures. We scampered up the tower where the conditions were even more severe, but we could see an occasional view of the Franconia ridge. A couple of quick photos were taken and we got the hell out of there. Back at the junction we had a very brief break of hot tea and frozen sandwiches before getting cold, so we started the descent along the Kinsman Ridge. This was steep, rocky, and 30 centimeters of unconsolidated snow over the bare rocks with no base. It was more of a semi-controlled fall down this stretch than a hike, which included a very sketchy traverse where we had to take out the ice axes, but I think we had briefly lost the trail at this section. At the col, we decided that with the difficult snow conditions and ridiculously freezing temperatures, it was too dangerous to attempt the entire ridge. We decided that we would climb the first peak along the ridge, known as Cannonball III, and then call it a day. This was hard work slogging throught the deep snow, but a fun climb. Right near the summit was a chimney scramble which made for interesting manouvers in snow shoes. The wide summit was traversed to make sure we were really on top, and some views would have been had if the valley below was not full of fog. We descended back to the col, and ran into the other group (Lynne, Len, Murray, Susan, and Katharina), who had followed our tracks later in the morning up to Cannon. We decided to return with them on the descent. The trail from here was fairly gentle and Len took the lead at breaking, which gave us the first rest all day. We traversed around Lonesome Lake to an AMC hut and found shelter inside for thirty minutes to enjoy a break out of the wind with some piping hot tea. The weather station indicated that it was -26 deg C now, so we bundled back up and quickly descended back to the campground in our group of eight. It was now a beautiful day, but still freaking freezing, which was alleviated with a soak in the hot tub back at the motel. Eight hours of hiking in such cold temperatures makes this one a unique outing.

Breaking trail through fresh snow.