The Hancocks and a completely wrong weather forecast!

Trip Details

Date: February 27^th, 2015

Total Distance: 10.47 mi (via Trimble Outdoors Navigator Pro on iPhone 4S)

Total Time: 5 hours 4 minutes

Total Elevation: 2755 ft gained

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The weather forecast from the National Weather Service was predicting only highs of 5ºF above 4000 ft with northwest winds up to 35 mph producing a windchill down to -45ºF. At the hairpin curve parking lot on the Kancamagus Highway the temperature was reading 1ºF at 0800. BishopX and I were prepared for another cold trip, but knew the majority of the trail was covered and the minor exposure while making the ascent to Mt. Hancock (the north peak) is shielded from wind in that direction. The forecast was completely wrong.

The Osceolas from the Hairpin Curve Parking Lot.

The start of the trail is straight ahead, down a small slope, and then across the Kancamagus Highway.

We made rather quick work of the first 3.6 miles over relatively flat ground to the start of the loop. The trails were in great condition, but we choose to use snowshoes the entire length knowing we would need the televators for the ascent and the shoes in general for the drifting on the ridge. We choose to ascend to Mt. Hancock first, which is the way both of us had previously hiked this loop. In the future during the winter I would probably recommend to ascend South Hancock first as the trail to the summit of Mt. Hancock is a bit longer (0.7 miles vs 0.5 miles), but it is also steeper and would make for one enjoyable butt slide.

Looking back down the Hancock Notch Trail.	Looking up the Cedar Brook Trail.
	The Hancock Loop Trail goes to the left...not sure where the trail to the right goes...

The hike up to Mt. Hancock was incredibly steep. The televators aided us and made it bearable, but it was one hell of a workout. The sun was out and it felt really warm at the outlook/blow down just below the summit. At this point the mountain would still shield us from a northwest wind so we took some photos and enjoyed the warm sun. We made our way to the summit expecting some serious wind and not sticking around.

South Hancock from the Mt. Hancock ascent.

South Hancock from a blow down below the Mt. Hancock summit.

Looking out towards Mt. Chocorua from the blow down.

Zoom-in of Mt. Chocorua.

Sadly the only shot I took of Mt. Carrigain even though we had better views later.

Upon arriving on the summit there was no wind and my thermometer was reading 20ºF! We went to the summit outlook and took some great photos. The visibility was amazing and though we thought we could see Mt. Monadnock about 100 miles away, in reality we were looking at Mt. Cardigan about 40 miles away. After a few snacks at the summit we started along the ridge. 

Mt. Moosilauke from the summit outlook.

Mt. Chocorua from summit outlook.

The north slide and the Tripyramids from the summit outlook.

Panorama from the summit outlook. From Mt. Chocorua to Mt. Moosilauke.

Mt. Cardigan

Summit of Mt. Hancock.

The trail along the ridge went from well packed to completely drifted over. The conditions were all over the place due to the wind that whips through this area. Just before South Hancock we got some great views of the Arrow Slide and the Pemigewasset Wilderness.

Franconia Ridge and Owl's Head.

Arrow Slide and Mt. Hancock.

Mt. Flume and Mt. Liberty with South Kinsman in the background.

South Hancock was shaded in the trees and the temperature dropped down to 10ºF with a slight wind. I carefully made my way down to the outlook to see the views of Mt. Chocorua and the some of the other mountains of the eastern portion of the Sandwich Range.

Summit of South Hancock.

View of the Sandwich Range from the outlook.

Zoom-in of Mt. Chocorua.

Zoom-in of the eastern portion of the Sandwich Range.

After a lunch where we got cold quickly, we started our descent. With two long butt slides we would make it down the mountain in less than 15 minutes. The group of six ascending that we passed seemed pretty blown away by the sight of us sliding down on our butts.

We then kicked into zombie mode and hiked out the 3.6 miles back to the hairpin curve parking lot.

Keeping the iPhone 4S within my jacket the whole time to only track instead of taking photos with it kept it from dying. Wahoo!