New Years 1999 - Moosilauke
A group of my friends have celebrated New Years for the past 15 years by going
to a cabin somewhere, usually at Moosilauke. This year was no different and with
a slightly varied cast we set forth once again. Brenda and I did some lift
telemark skiing at Waterville Valley then headed to trailhead after dark. It's
a 1.7 mile ski into the cabin up the Ravine Lodge access road but since it's
relatively flat and clear we didn't need our headlamps. By the time we got to
the cabin it was warm and food was ready. People
drifted in as the evening
wore on, as we headed towards midnight. People
lounged,
played games, and
ate chocolate fondue, before a fine celebration
to mark the moment, then off
to bed.
The morning of the first dawned cold, windy, and foggy, but what is that compared
to tradition?! So most of us planned to hike to the summit via the Gorge Brook
trail, while Dave and Kathy were going to ski the Al Merrill loop and put up some
freshly painted signs. We
packed up,
got outfitted, and headed out.
Only one person (Elaine) elected to bring
snowshoes, the
rest just planned on hoofing it. It was quite cold so we
didn't stop long for
breaks so we just snacked and hiked. We stopped for a very
brief lunch below the last cut views which is where to only other hikers we saw
that day turned around because of the cold. Just below the Balcony we put on
most of our gear and pushed on into the mists.
Some Summit Photos
Lafe brought his new Canon digital video camera and managed to take some video
from the summit. It was below zero with 30-40 MPH winds, so the video is rather
spectacular. Hopefully I'll get a video card for my PC and manage to add it to
this trip report. After just a few minutes up top taking pictures we headed back
down Gorge Brook to get warm. We gathered everyone
together below treeline for
some nice hot tea with honey from my Thermos. It really helped us all get warm
again and then we headed down to try and beat the
failing light. By the section
of trail that runs along an old logging road the
sunset light was fantastic and
we stopped for the last time as a group. The last
45 minutes was a long, tiring,
slog back to the cabin and we arrived just after dark.
We had another fine dinner and spend the evening keeping
the fire going and tried
to get the maximum possible temperature differential between the outside (approx
-18) and the inside (approx 65) using another Dave's indoor/outdoor thermometer.
The next morning dawned cold and clear, so Dave and Kathy decided to go to the
summit, proving once again that waiting is sometimes best. Lafe, Allison, Ed,
Brenda, and I elected to ski the Al Merrill loop. After folks packed up and
headed out we waxed up and started up the loop. Say what you
want, but I have to think that hand warmers have a place on
ski trips. Conditions were wonderful and
the view from the top of the loop made us wish we had
delayed our summit trip
just one day. Then we hit the screaming descent,
picked up our packs at the cabin,
and skied out. In Hanover we had a fine Chinese dinner, hit the Hanover Hot Tubs, then
headed home to avoid the ice storm.
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