Photos from this trip can be found here.
I had originally planned on heading to Greenway Mountain. But due to a late start and poor snow conditions, I decided to go up to Change Peak in favor of getting back to the trailhead before dark. Twenty percent chance snow forecast turned into an all-day ordeal. It started to snow the minute pups and I left the car until the time we left the summit. Put on spikes for traction and carried snowshoes for cross-country use later.
We were more than happy to take advantage of a nice, semi-packed snow trail left by the early risers headed to Mount Washington. Passed five to six parties on the way up and reached the head of the basin just before trail bend at the 3,600′ creek crossing. Fresh power was thigh high soon after leaving the trail there. Put on snowshoes in the forest and then fought our way through more deep powder while traversing southward to reach the 4,000′ saddle southwest of the summit. An old road passed through the southwest ridge on the east.
Half a mile road walk followed by meandering through thick growth on ridge crest, and we were on the summit. Not much to see this time, mostly cloudy with snowfall. The constant wiping snow off the camera was pretty annoying. We celebrated Cody’s big day on the summit, our first ever summit party.
Snow made north ridge descent much easier in getting through brush and thick growth. We reconnected with the main trail at 2,800′ and hiked out to the car.
Gear: snowshoes