|
There
were a several reasonably good viewpoints beyond the Mizpah Cutoff, but
the best views came after I climbed up and out of the scrub into the open
on the north side of Mt Pierce. The air was very clear and I could see Mts
Washington, Eisenhower, and Monroe and the connecting ridge.
There
was a very sharp dropoff to the northwest and the trail was badly drifted
over in several places, but I plodded on through, carefully checking my
position so I could find my way back. It was very windy (maybe 50
mph or so)
in this open area and the side of the mountain dropped off sharply to the
northwest.
At
the junction with the Webster Cliff Trail, I met two snowshoers who had
camped near Mizpah Hut and were headed toward Mt Eisenhower. They had come
over Mt Pierce but hadn’t realized because the summit isn't all that noticeable
when coming from the other direction. The last section of the trail up Mt
Pierce was icy in spots and fairly steep, but I didn’t put on my
crampons because there were enough patches of exposed rock to gain good
traction. I slipped on one snowy patch that I hadn’t realized was icy
underneath but was unhurt. Looking back on it, I probably should have put
my crampons on, because I could have gotten hurt.
|
Getting
closer to the summit. There were several good viewpoints along the upper
part of the trail, but the best views came just after I broke out of the
scrub, not long after I took this picture. |
 |
|
Mt
Eisenhower. Mt Washington is visible at the far right. The Crawford Path
climbs up this exposed ridge all the way to Mt Washington. If you look
closely, you can see one of the cairns that mark its way in the middle
foreground, just to the right of a patch of scrub. |
 |
