A returning guest came to us looking for a companion for her 48 4000-footers finish. On the job for this hike was Redline Guide Eric Hansen. Being that the access road on the south side was closed for the Osceolas, they took on this project from the north (the Kanc). For the details, check out this post from Eric along with some of the photos of the day.
With two peaks left for her NH48, our guest and I hiked the Osceolas as an out-and-back from Greeley Pond Trailhead, the de factor winter route now that Tripoli Rd is closed for the season. Six inches of new snow at the trailhead led to 10″ at elevation, and we wore snowshoes from the start. Trailhead temps were 27°F while at the main Osceola summit it was a breezy 18°F at around 1PM. Leading up to East Osceola we enjoyed a really nice view at the slide crossover, a gem and one of my favorite viewpoints in the Whites. The infamous “chimney” section between the summits was iced/drifted over, so we took one of the available bypasses and were able to puzzle our way up and then slither back down, which took a few extra minutes but presented no real trouble! The summit of Mt Osceola was in the clouds, but with relatively no wind we were able to hang out, have lunch, and celebrate our guest’s 4k finish. On the return, for the final steep descent from East Osceola we switched into full crampons for traction, which really helped with the loose snow over ice. Our hike timing was perfect and we finished just before sunset. Along the way we crossed paths with hiker friend and endurance athlete who was on his #114 of Single Season Fall NE115 (he finished on Tecumseh the next day). We spent a few minutes chatting with him about our hikes/projects, but in typical White Mountain hiker attitude, he was way more interested in giving kudos for our guest becoming the very newest NH48 Finisher! Congrats to her… she crushed it! —Eric
