Admin’s Trip Reports

Short out-and-back hike to Gem Pool Falls along the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail during early March. Original goal was to summit Mt. Washington as a winter ascent, but the weather did not hold out for our cabin reservation and a snow storm blew into the mountains the night before. Arrived at the trailhead around 9AM with morning wind speeds around 20mph at the base of the mountain with summit winds reaching 105mph, so shooting for the summit was pointless. Instead we decided to hike the Ammonoosuc Ravine for as far as we felt comfortable with. Snow was whipping and the precipitation even included a bit of rain. Along the trail during the winter, hikers should be aware of the 45-degree sloping angles that the snowpack creates, which makes it all too easy to trigger small avalanches that could send you down into the creek, located ~20-feet below. We took these sections slowly and carefully - sometimes hiking up into the trees and around the main trail for additional safety. Our crampons provided extra grip on the ice that sat below the snowpack. Postholing was fairly common with some pockets reaching 3-feet deep. Eventually we reached Gem Pool Falls and took a nice long break, taking photos and videos of the icy cascade. We attempted to cross the creek to continue, but the recent warmer temps and rain caused any ice built-up in the creek to turn to complete mush. It was clear that to continue we'd have to risk putting our feet in 6-inch-deep creek water at the very least. We decided to turn around here for safety as summitting was a foolish task that day anyway. Looking forward to another winter summit attempt someday.