Great Gulf War trip report:

Great Gulf War hike via Great Gulf Trail
Trip Leader: Robert Zeithammer
Dates:  January xxth, 2003

Climbers/Hikers: 
Robert Zeithammer
Hector Briceno
Pete Mack
Andrew Yue
Pavel ?
Rick ?
Miles ?

The trip started off as being named the "Great Gulf War."  As 
if that wasnÕt enough of an indicator of how the trip was 
going to be, it was being called that by Robert Zeithammer 
and Hector Briceno, the two most well-known masochists in the 
MITOC community for their crazy and intense trips.  As well, 
the prerequisites included "a positive reference from a 
trusted MITOC winter school leader, ability to potentially 
complete in a single push (13 miles, 7000 ft. up, some deep 
snow)."

The trip plan was to go untrodden places in the Great Gulf 
with lots of snow and ascend big mountains without the aid of 
trails. We would depart sometime Friday evening and snowshoe 
into the Great Gulf.  We would then build snowshelters to 
stay in and attempt to ascend Mt. Jefferson via the Six 
Husbands Ridge. Depending on time we might be able to hit 
Mount Washington from Jefferson. The next day another shot at 
Washington or Adams. The plan was to hike out Sunday night 
and crash at Intervale.

We started off from Boston Friday evening making sure that 
everyone had a pair of snowshoes, crampons, warm sleeping 
bag, sleeping pad, and a headlamp.  The drive up was rather 
uneventful except for a brief stop for some pizza and pop.

We arrived and at the trailhead around 1am as everyone 
quickly geared up and got dressed.  It was a very chilly 0 
degrees F and Hector let us all know how cold it was as he 
dared to strop down to his underwear.

The group got started out on the Great Gulf Trail from Route 
16 just a bit north of Pinkham Notch.  With Robert setting 
the pace under the mixture of halogen and LED spotlights, we 
quickly warmed up under the quick pace as I shortly requested 
that we delayer as I was beginning to heat up and sweat 
profusely.

When we hit the Osgood Trail junction, we came out of the 
deep forest briefly to catch gorgeous views of Jefferson and 
Adams in the bright moonlight despite the windy and seemingly 
stormy conditions.  Shortly after the Madison Gulf Trail 
junction we donned our big SherpaÕs from the MITOC supply as 
the trail proved to be unbroken.  Despite the unbroken trail, 
being it night the snow conditions were good and we didnÕt 
posthole much.

Finally, around 5am as daybreak was just beginning to show, 
we hit the Wamsutta Trail junction and began to build our 
snowshelters which we wouldnÕt even stay in for another 24 
hours or so.  It should be noted that actually it was just 
Pete, Pavel, Robert, and I that were making shelters.  Hector 
and Rick decided to catch some shut-eye in their nice cozy 
bivyÕs as Miles settled for a small trench to sleep in.

As we shoveled frantically because of the sub-zero conditions 
to stay warm, it was hard to find a spot to dig.  As we 
wanted to stay near the stream crossing for the water source, 
the snow proved very deep and the hill we were on was quite 
steep.  After digging and shoveling for about 2 hours, we all 
learned the importance of letting snow settle in cold 
conditions as PavelÕs and RobertÕs snow shelter collapsed 
with Robert deep inside.

After finishing our mound of snow and packing it down 
(missing our buried packs), we settled to chatting with the 4 
awake creatures in our group, half shivering, and half 
falling asleep standing up.

As the sun came up and the day started to warm up 
(thankfully), we finished digging out our shelter.  We found 
out why you do not make QuinzheeÕs close to trees.  You have 
to dig them out using ice axes and shovels despite the fresh 
forest pine smell.  Finally we finished the shelter around 
8am as the rest of the group rose from their nice 4 hour nap.

After some boiling water the group of Robert, Pavel, Pete, 
Hector, and I headed off towards the Six Husbands trail for 
those "untrodden places of deep snow."  (Miles and Rick 
stayed behind because of boot problems Š and sleep).  Well we 
headed off and quickly realized that RobertÕs guess was 
correct.  The trail had yet to be broken all winter long as 
we took turns breaking trail.

Losing the trail only twice thus far, we started up the 1200 
feet of elevation gain in a short 0.6 miles.  The climb 
started off great as we lost the trail numerous times through 
a large field of boulders.  Not that the trail would have 
been any better.  As we found and lost the trail the for the 
next 4 hours, we literally crawled up the mountain in chest 
deep snow (with snowshoes on!!!).

At one point it took about 30 minutes to go a distance of 
about 40 feet with the aid of a rope.  Lightweight Robert and 
Pavel seemed to float ahead as I (3rd in the order) was kind 
enough to ruin the footsteps for Pete and Hector as I slid 
any sort of steps down.  Hector could do nothing but curse 
and check his cell phone messages as I slowly crawled up the 
mountain slipping the whole way up.

Despite being soaked from sweat, gloves completely wet from 
being in the snow (yeah I had goretex), I was constantly 
swinging my arms back and forth to increase circulation 
because I swear frostbite was setting in.  But we persisted.  
Finally as late afternoon was setting in we finally hit the 
shoulder of Jefferson and were able to get some nice pictures 
of Mount Clay, the Jefferson summit, and Adams.  Washington 
still hid in the clouds though.  Because of our long and 
treacherous climb, we had to turn back before hitting the 
summit despite the rest of the climb within easy reach.

The descent was interesting as we found the numerous ladders 
we missed and our ice axes proved to be very useful in the 
few patches of ice.

Finally, around 6pm we hit camp as it got very dark.  We 
fired up the three stoves and cooked up the Ramen which 
provided some much needed food and warmth.  After boiling all 
the water we needed, we climbed into our cozy shelters and 
slept for 12 hours.

The next morning again we boiled some hot water and ate Cous 
Cous, an interesting new breakfast food I can add to my 
camping repetoire.  We decided to hike out as the weather was 
turning bad with strong winds and decreasing visibility.

We passed the only 2 people we would see the entire trip, 
finally hitting the cars around 2pm.

Deciding to hit the "diner" for dinner on the way back, we 
reached it amidst a raging Nor-easter as snow was coming down 
hard.  The diner was a great break as we ate fat juicy 
burgers drinking Pepsi products (despite the Coke 
advertisements) joking about the entire trip.  (Hector even 
attempted to hit on our waitress).  

We finally reached Boston late at night and we all crashed 
from fatigue.