Our friend Rob is working on his winter 46, and I am trying to finish another winter round, so Gracepoints and I joined him for the Nippletop and Dial loop on Saturday.
We started out bare-booting, since the road from the parking lot was freshly plowed. At the gate, the cover seemed thin so we continued with no traction. It wasn't too long before we felt like we were walking in loose sand, so we stopped at the Leach Trail and put snowshoes on. We would keep them on until we reached the gate on the way out. We stayed on the road to the Gill Brook Cutoff, where we started out behind two other guys. We passed them after not long, and took over trail breaking. There was three or four inches of new snow on the trail until we got to Elk Pass.
Crossing the northern pond in Elk Pass
We made a shortcut across the northern pond, and promptly turned left too quickly past the campsite. We ended up in a spot looking up at a cliff band, and terrain that was too steep to try to make a direct line to the trail, so we had to back track a little and find the trail. As we started the climb out of Elk Pass, the fresh snow on the trail increased to about six inches. The trail breaking wasn't bad, but in the steeper sections you would take a step and then slide back when trying to plant your foot. The trees are well coated in snow, and of course there are plenty of over/under obstacles along the way.
Climbing the Elk Pass trail to the ridge
We reached the ridge, and made our way to the Nippletop summit, where we found strong winds and no views.
Leaving Nippletop and heading down the ridge
Heading down the ridge from the junction, we encountered some deep drifts, but fortunately, we didn't run into too many of those. Maybe half way between Nippletop and Dial, we crossed paths with the first person coming from Dial. It would be a while longer before we encountered more people moving in the opposite direction of us, but eventually the trail was a little more packed. At the summit of Dial, we found more wind, and a slight view of the ridge towards Nippletop.
Our view from Dial
When we reached the col between Dial and Bear Den, we turned left and started bushwhacking off the ridge. We had done this bushwhack years ago in the fall, and remembered it being through mostly wide open woods. There is a drainage that goes directly west takes you to Gill Brook, which is pretty easy to follow. We didn't have real crust to walk on, but other than the six inches of fresh powder, the surface was supportive. In our previous time on this route, we must have stayed a little more south on the descent, and this time I went a little to the north, which put us in a spot with some steep cliff bands. We were able to find chutes here and there, and it wasn't too long before we were back on more moderate terrain, but I'll keep that in mind if I take this route again. Our route was still mostly open woods, and pretty easy going. It does get a little thicker when the terrain starts to level off as you approach Gill Brook. Bushwhacking is not allowed on AMR land, but the property boundary is well marked, so you can't miss it. We hit the boundary about a tenth of a mile from the Gill Brook Trail, so it was easy to follow the property line to the trail, and then cruise out the remainder of the trail and road.
I think the bushwhack adds some distance as compared with staying on the Leach Trail, but you avoid climbing Bear Den and the side of Noonmark. I think we were all happy to make that trade of extra distance for less elevation. Along the bushwhack and on the Gill Brook Cutoff Trail, we had some blue skies overhead and views of the Wolfjaws. I though we'd get a view of Giant from the golf course, but when we reached there, it was covered in clouds. Even without the views, it was a nice day to be in the High Peaks.