Along the Presidential Range, two mountains were needed. Two mountains both of which can be difficult to conquer in the winter. For this particular assignment we had Redline Guide Eric Hansen out there. We’ll let him give the details. He tells it like this:
We had a great day to hike Mts Madison (5367′) and Adams (5793′). Our route was Valley Way to Madison Springs hut, then two out/back to the summits, descending Valley Way again. Trails were roughly broken out but soft and we wore snowshoes the entire hike. At Madison Springs hut we took a short break, snacked, and layered up for the alpine portion of the route. Madison summit cone was great, grippy snow, -1 deg F but with almost no wind on the summit. We took a nice but quick photo break the headed back down. Once back to the hut, we pivoted to Gulfside Tr and ascended Mt Adams. Windier there, 25 mph wind, but two degrees warmer than Madison! It was all manageable and conditions were quite favorable for mid February in the northern Presis. Our guest was very skilled and did great. We moved right along and snowshoed the route in roughly six hours elapsed. It was really a pleasure to guide this hike. —Eric
