North and Middle Tripyramid

December 29, 2016

The weather forecast was for heavy snowfall beginning around noon, so we decided to get an early start and climb something close by that would not take too long. The Tripyramids fit the bill. After a 05:00 wakeup at the White Mountain Hostel, Andy, Emily, Katja, and myself, loaded up the car and drove out on the Kankamagus until we found the Pine Bend Brook trailhead which was just a small pullout off the highway. There was a few inches of snow, but it was well packed so we booted along in microspikes. In fact everyone remained in spikes the entire day with the exception of myself, who found snowshoes, and especially the heel lifters to be very useful once we started the steep climbing. The approach was gentle, with several brook crossings, though these were all easily rock hopped. As we progressed higher a few flurries of snow drifted down, but nothing substantial. Upon reaching the ridge, we stopped for a break to refuel and add a layer as the warm day was now pierced by a cool breeze. Scampering along here went fairly quickly, and before long we summited North Tripyramid, where we had another short break and looked out into the fog and increasingly heavy snowfall. The decicion was made to carry on to Middle Tripyramid, but to do it quickly before the trail filled in with snow. In very little time, we summited this as well and marvelled at the even better view of the inside of a snowstorm. A few photos of some happy hikers on the bleak summit and we were off back the way we came. Back on the summit of North Tripyramid, or Trippy-Ramid as the joke of the day declared, Andy unfurled his crazy carpet and went barreling down the luge run of a trail. Emily swapped the carpet with him occasionally, while Katharina butt slid, and I snowshoe skied as best as possible in the crusty snow. We met one other couple during our descent, but they were the only other people that we saw all day. After exiting the steeps and before doing the creek crossings again, I ditched my snowshoes for microspikes for most of the remainder of the trip. It was now snowing really hard and we were getting very wet, but as the day was fairly warm we just trudged on. Eventually I got fed up with snow balling up under my spikes, so after the final creek crossing I ditched these as well and bare booted the rest of the way. No sooner than I had changed footwear, we heard the rumble of a snowplow go by on the highway, and we finished the day after about 6.5 hours of hiking.

Climbing on upwards in very thin snow.

The newly weds on the summit of North Tripyramid.

Best view of the day.

Summit of Middle Tripyramid.

Emily, descending in style.

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