Trip Report/Photos from Gandalf
Mt. Tecumseh is also known as the Waterville Valley Ski Area. It's the lowest 4,000 footer at 4003 feet. To make it interesting, we left the Mt. Tecumseh Trail halfway up and used the closed Tangent Ski Trail to reach the Schwendi Hut for views and brews!
We used MicroSpikes the entire hike. We had a beautiful sunny day. We stepped out for a view from the ski trail. Wow...the ski trail was very icy and it was closed. We've been at this outlook many times before in winter with skiers & boarders having a great time. Not this year. The view from this outlook is always great...especially the Tripyramids.
Halfway up the Mt. Tecumseh Trail we took the herd path to the Tangent Ski Trail. The ski trail was closed so we hiked up to the Schewendi Hut where we enjoyed the views, warmth, chili and beer! We arrived around 12:45pm and got a table near a window as people were leaving.
From there we hiked up the ski slope to reach the Sosman Trail. The Sosman Trail was not broken so we encountered unpacked powder of 6-8 inches and snow drifts up to our knees. YES! To carry snowshoes for this section only does not seem worth it to me. It was a winter wonderland!
On the Sosman Trail we found a clearing that provided us views of Mt. Moosilauke and Franconia Ridge. We've been on the Sosman Trail before and never caught this view so we are thinking this is a new clearing. We then rejoined the Mt. Tecumseh Trail for our final push to the summit.
This is the most snow we've seen all winter! The snow sticking to the trees was just beautiful! We reached the summit at 4003 feet with spectacular views. We had it all to ourselves. We drank hot apple cider and munched on Valentine cookies.
When we got home, we warmed up by the fireplace with a glass of wine. The next day we hiked up Jennings Peak with a temparure of 4 degrees on the summit and a wind chill of 15 below zero! But we'll save that story for another time. >>Link to our pictures with music by Coldplay
Happy Valentine's Day,
Mike and Jon
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