February Highlights

- Month #2 of the 2026 Elevation challenge was a huge success. I was able to get in 125,000' of vertical gain in the 28 days of February. 70K on foot and 55K on my splitboard. I have been widely enjoying sunrise skins up Wildcat Mountain and snowboarding down. I've caught a few glorious sunrises from the Polecat Ski Trail while getting lucky with comfortable weather and little to no winds most mornings. As the days have gotten longer, I have mixed in a few late afternoon Wildcat laps, heading up after last chair and snowboarding down at dusk. The afternoon lap has its pros and cons, the advantages is the temperature is warmer, the disadvantage is the trails have been skied off, sometimes down to ice. 

- On days when we get fresh snow, I head across the street to HoJo's to snowboard the Sherbie. We didn't have any huge snowfalls this month, but I was able to get in a half dozen Sherbie runs, down from ten last month. My Wildcat runs went up in February, from eight to twenty. I prefer the Sherbie because I can go during my lunch break, and it's a more exciting ride down, but as an intermediate-level snowboarder, I need fresh powder to enjoy navigating the dozens of moguls.

- On foot, I was able to get in a few beautiful days above treeline. The highlights of the month were two solo bluebird days on Madison and Adams. Three perfect days with Sarge, two in the Presi's (Monroe, Washington, Jefferson, and Pierce and Eisenhower), and a terrific day on Franconia Ridge.

- We also spent time doing local favorites, hikes up to HoJo's, Imp Face, Chapel Rock. Mixed in with all this was couple of North of the Notch Run Club Wednesday night meetups and knocking off some 4000's for Grid #3 on weekends when the weather was too cold to go above treeline.

- After two months, I am up to 225K of elevation gained, a quarter of the way to my goal of 1 million. If I stay healthy and strong, I hope to achieve 1 million by September 20th, when I leave for Arizona for two months. We shall see!

- Best pictures of the month below, enjoy!

Mount Jefferson as seen from Mount Adams

The Great Gulf Headwall and Mount Washington

Mount Jefferson with the Franconia Ridge in the background

Mount Washington as seen from Mount Eisenhower

In the clouds on Mount Pierce. Alpine vegetation stay on trail sign covered with a thin layer of rime ice

Snow Moon above Mount Washington at dawn

Presidential Range

Tuckerman, Raymond Cataract, Huntington Ravines

Sarge takes his orange booties up the Greenleaf Trail on Mount Lafayette

Sarge on Mount Lafayette

Classic Franconia Ridge shot

Sarge puts his game face on as he reaches Mount Lincoln

Standing on the edge of the Pemigewasset Wilderness 

Franconia Ridge

Morning on Wildcat. Interesting looking cloud blanket fitting snugly on top of Mount Washington

Late afternoon on Wildcat

Sun is about to set, time to snowboard down!

Sarge takes his booties to Mount Eisenhower

Mount Pierce. Presidential Range looms large behind Sarge

Lakes of the Clouds Hut

Sarge rolling around in the snow at Mount Monroe Loop junction

All smiles on Mount Monroe

Looking down at Lakes of the Clouds

High along the Crawford Path

Top of the northeast!

Along the Gulfside Trail

Mount Jefferson summit

Sarge acting all serious at 5,700'

Early morning on Mount Madison and Adams

Another great sunrise skin up Wildcat

Sunshine and clouds on the Tuckerman Ravine trail

North KearSARGE

Sarge at the Pine Mountain ledges

Knocking off G3 peaks. Big snow year on the Hancocks

HoJo's!

Chapel Rock

Impressive numbers being put up. Amber is still going strong as she attempts to break the world record of vert, 3.65 million, in a calendar year!

Sarge's 50th Summit of Mount Washington

1/28/24

Cog Railway: 3.0 miles / Gulfside Trail: 2.5 miles / Mount Jefferson Loop: 0.6 miles / Gulfside Trail: 1.5 miles / Jewell Trail: 3.0 miles

Total Miles: 10.7 (4,950' elevation gained)

Trip Report:

- Sarge had been waiting about two months to get Rockpile #50 and Sunday he was rewarded for his patience. Temperatures were mild above treeline, mid to high twenties which is quite warm for late January, and the wind was nonexistent. To add to our good fortune, we were treated with undercast, so it was a "unicorn' type of day in the alpine zone.

- We took the express way up to the summit, the Cog Railway Path, it's a steady steep climb along an open swath that parallels the tracks over an average grade around 25%. 

- At Marshfield Station I put on my microspikes and let Sarge set the pace as we made out way up the packed styrofoam snow that had a light dusting over it making for ideal winter conditions. 

Sarge at Marshfield Station waiting for me to put my spikes on

Looks gloomy as we head up but we know what waits above the clouds!

Break time at Jacob's Ladder.

- Past Jacob's ladder we hustled by the two steep no fall zones, they were easily navigated, but a few more good dumps of snow and a melt/freeze pattern could change that.

- Once past the steeps we enjoyed the last mile taking in the undercast views as we made our way to the summit.

Sarge waits for daddy to catch up

Undercast to the west of us

Sarge hiking up Mount Washington's summit cone with Mount Jefferson behind him

Sarge takes in the view of the North Presidential Range

Clay, Jefferson, Adams, Madison (left to right)

Pemi Wilderness rising above the clouds

Observation deck and summit tower

#50!

Carter Range floating above the clouds

Summit deck Sarge!

- Our original plan was to head back down the Cog but we decided to switch it up and take the longer/easier way via the Jewell Trail. As we made our way over to the Jewell Trail junction the weather was too nice to head back down so we continued on.

Sarge scopes out the Jewell Trail with Jacob's Ladder, Lakes of the Clouds Hut, and Mount Monroe behind him

- It was just past 9AM and there wasn't a hint of wind, the clouds were not moving down on us, and the storm was still several hours out so we decided an out and back of Mount Jefferson was in order.

- From the junction we dropped toward the Clay Col and that is when Sarge took off running, ahead of him he saw familiar faces, Corey and Ashley, who were out enjoying the mint conditions.

- After chatting with them we took off towards Jefferson making our way up to Monticello Lawn and eventually to the summit.

Sarge with Clay and Washington behind him

Monticello Lawn

Sarge making his way up to Mount Jefferson

Carter Range off in the distance

Sarge just below the summit of Mount Jefferson

Sarge on the summit!

- Unfortunately, it was time to head home, so we backtracked to the Jewell junction, banged a right, and slowly made our way back to treeline soaking in all the views as we both knew that days like this are few and far between when it comes to winter in the White Mountains

One happy Dood!

Sea of clouds. Eisenhower to the immediate left, far left in the back is Carrigain, Willey is to the right, and the peaks that make up the Pemi make up the backdrop

Treeline on Jewell Trail

- So how does Sarge feel about #50? No idea, he's just a dog! But he loves every minute on trail sniffing, eating snow, rolling in snow, waiting for me!