Mount Mansfield - 11/18/11

For two consecutive Friday's I've had wild weather adventures that have produced great pictures.  Last Friday was Tongue Mountain in Lake George, NY, this Friday was Mount Mansfield, VT's highest mountain at 4393'.  The weather forecast was for partly sunny and 40 degrees.  In reality, it was overcast at first, with snow squalls, later with sun penetrating on and off through quite a dark cloud layer.

We started from Underhill State Park on the west side of the mountain.   Our ascent was on the Laura Cowles trail to the summit ridge where we proceeded north on the Long Trail to the summit (the chin).  We then descended on the Sunset Ridge Trail to the place of beginning.  

Some of our pictures are below.  More can be found on our Picasa web album for this trip.

Trip Stats:

Trailhead Elevation:  1850'

Summit Elevation:  4393'

Total Vertical Gain:  2788'

Total Hike Distance:  4.8 miles

Hike Time:  5hrs, 25 minutes

Lots of rock formations, and lots of caves...

Snow squall and fog coming in...

Limited visibility on the way up

Leesa approaching the treeline

The sun started to come out on and off, just as we reached the treeline

Rime ice and a dusting of snow

The wind chill on the summit have quite cold.  We needed to wear face masks to be able to breath and to keep our faces from freezing.  Once we got out of the wind, and especially when the sun was out, it wasn't so bad.

We had to clean off the signs to read them

Another Friday where the weather made for interesting images

We didn't take this one!

Looking to the summit (chin)

We made it!

Leesa trying to not look cold...

Mike and the ridge to the south 

More cool clouds...

Clouds blowing back in

There was a little bit of ice in the trail, but you could usually pick your way around it.  We didn't wear spikes.

The dark clouds were an amazing contrast to the snow

Google Earth elevation view of our route

View Mount Mansfield 20111118.kml in a larger map

I want to come back here and stay at the Underhill State Park campground.  They have leantos that look really nice.  All the additional pictures on Picasa.