Outdoor Diversion: Whiteface But Not Passaconaway

Summit: Mount Whiteface (4,020')
Trail route: Blueberry Ledge Trail, Rollins Trail, Dicey's Mill Trail
Trail conditions: A couple inches of fresh snow to over a foot plus of unbroken snow at higher elevations
Weather: Cold temps to start and wind at higher elevations to warm afternoon temps
Total miles: 10
Total time: 7:52

This past Friday a storm dumped 12+ inches of snow on the White Mountains summits. I had not seen any recent trail reports for Mount Whiteface and Mount Passaconaway so was not sure what the trail conditions would be. This is a popular hiking destination and I was left wondering if any hikers would have been hiking this loop on Saturday and breaking the trails from the new snow that had fallen. The plan for today was to hike both summits with Jill, Guy and Marty and hopefully there would be enough of us to break trail if needed.

This is one of my longest drives to a 4,000 footer trailhead so I left early. We all met at the Ferncroft parking lot and started our walk to the trailhead just before 7:30 AM. The road driving into Ferncroft was deeply rutted with frozen slush. We put on traction to start. When we reached the trail it was clear that we were the first ones there today. The trail had a couple of inches of frozen crusty snow on it that we were breaking through.

As we hiked higher and the trail got steeper we all eventually swapped to snow shoes as the snow got deeper. Marty was leading the way with the trail breaking and doing a great job. Just before reaching the ledges a young couple passed us and helped with the trail breaking. We reached the ledges and kept going in snowshoes. It was tough going through the deep, loose snow in the steep sections. We made it up over the series of ledges without any mishaps.

We took a brief break at the very top of the ledges before moving on to the summit of Whiteface. The young couple that was ahead of us continued on to the Rollins Trail to the summit. We followed shortly thereafter. When we arrived at the Mount Whiteface summit I was looking up into the trees for the summit stick. Jill found it just above the snow we were walking on. That was an incredible amount of snow below us. The depth had to be at least six feet. We all contemplated our next move, to go on across the unbroken Rollins Trail or turn back and go down the Whiteface ledges we just came up.

The couple in front of us continued on and we decided to follow. There was a foot or more of freshly broken snow and we soon found ourselves taking turns breaking the trail with the other two hikers. With the warmer temps the snow was starting to ball up on the snowshoes making a tough hike even more difficult. It was my turn to lead and break trail when we arrived at a spot where the trail seemed to completely disappear under the deep snow. I continued through a clearing and we ended up completely off the trail. I used my GPS to get us back on the trail but it was tough going and very steep.

Further along the Rollins Trail the other two hikers had been breaking trail and again we came to a place where the trail just completely disappeared again. After several attempts to find the trail I looked at my GPS. We were hiking parallel to the actual trail but needed to get back over to it. This time it was a bit easier and the woods were a little more open without any steep sections. That would be our last time getting off trail.

We arrived at the Dicey's Mill Trail junction and a general consensus between the four us determined we would not be hiking to Mount Passaconaway today. The trip through the deep, soft snow had been a little more than we expected. The younger couple that had helped break out the trail took off for the summit. We turned down the trail and headed back to the Ferncroft parking area. The one water crossing was no problem. There was the choice between a log walk or rock hop.

When we got back to the road the warm temperatures and sunshine had turned what had earlier been a frozen road to now a muddy walk back to the parking lot. It was nice to be back down after a rather strenuous hike through unbroken snow along the Rollins Trail. While our hike didn't go as planned with us only getting the one summit I still enjoyed the challenge of hiking through unbroken snow and finding our way back to the trail after losing it. We'll return another day for the hike to Mount Passaconaway!

Enjoy the photos and videos!