# NEK Backcounty 3/27/14



## from_the_NEK (Mar 28, 2014)

Note that all of the pictures here are of the friend that I talked into going late Wednesday evening. He has no touring gear so I let him borrow my snowshoes. From past experience I knew the slowshoes might be an issue up there, but as it turns out they weren't (I'll explain later).

We started the approach at 9:45. Sun was beating down.
Reached base of the main gully at 10:00. Sun was still beating down and looking at the view up the gully, you could tell it was getting baked.
Also looking up the gully I could tell it had slid at some point as the lumpy debris piles were evident on the lower 1/4 of the gully. Additionally you could see the crown at the bottom of the frozen waterfall. There was only 2-4 inches of fresh snow above the old weak layer (which I believe is the thin crust from the brief weekend thaw we had before the big storm. The 20+ inches of snow from that big storm were definitely not in the gully but coverage was still pretty good. We tried to skin/snowshoe up in the trees adjacent to the gully but the steep terrain and trees made maneuvering difficult and tiresome. We finally ditched the skin/shoe approach in favor of booting up the shallower/consolidated snow in the gully. You can see the crown below the icefall here.



 

The sun had baked the snow pretty hard and it was decidedly not powder. However, it was great some spring style mashed potatoes turns. That couple of inches of fresher snow on top slid away easily so we had to do a bit of slough management on the way down.





Since we had a boot ladder established we went back up and traversed across to another zone. Great turns were had here too. With similar peal away/sloughing mashed potatoes.









To avoid the manky piles of potatoes that had built up below us, we jumped into the adjacent trees and found the best turns of the day.









I'm good and sore this morning. I forget how much of a PITA the climb to the top of that gully is.


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## Cannonball (Mar 28, 2014)

Nice work!!  Wish I could have joined you, looks like mighty fine conditions for a splitboard!


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## Sick Bird Rider (Mar 28, 2014)

Nice work NEK! Very aesthetic line, what with the frozen waterfalls and all. You'd think there would be ice climbers crawling all over those routes.


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## from_the_NEK (Mar 28, 2014)

Sick Bird Rider said:


> Nice work NEK! Very aesthetic line, what with the frozen waterfalls and all. You'd think there would be ice climbers crawling all over those routes.


Difficulty of access likely keeps the climbers away. The falls are only between 60-70' tall (estimate). There is much bigger and easier to get to ice elsewhere in the area.


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## jaysunn (Mar 29, 2014)

Nice. I hate you. We'll done.


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## jaysunn (Mar 30, 2014)

Those are Awesome falls, Are they free flowing during the melt?  Do you know the names of them? Seems to be 2 directly feeding the same runout. Also, you mention NEK backcountry, is this NH presidentials?  Is that even in the NEK?  Dead serious questions. 



Jaysunn


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## from_the_NEK (Mar 31, 2014)

There really isn't a lot of slope above the falls to create enough flow for a real free flowing waterfall. Maybe during a large rain event or during a rapid melt. The two falls do converge into  the main gully about 75-100 vertical feet below the cliff base. 




 

When I say NEK back country, I mean NEK back country. I’m not quite sure what you are asking about regarding the Presidentials? Are you asking if the Presidentials are in the NEK?


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## jacknoir (Apr 1, 2014)

Just answer his friggin' question. You are talking about vermont's northeast kingdom. Correct?


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## from_the_NEK (Apr 1, 2014)

Ummm... ok . SPOILER ALERT!!! The NEK is the Northeast Kingdom. However the way Jaysunn put together his questions - 





> Is that even in the NEK?


 - It sounded like he roughly knew what the "NEK" is.


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## from_the_NEK (Apr 1, 2014)

jacknoir said:


> Just answer his friggin' question. You are talking about vermont's northeast kingdom. Correct?


BTW, would you like a map to go with your whine?


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## jacknoir (Apr 1, 2014)

Have a little consideration for people who don't speak your insider lingo.


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## from_the_NEK (Apr 1, 2014)

jacknoir said:


> Have a little consideration for people who don't speak your insider lingo.


"NEK" is hardly insider lingo.  And don't think I'm trying to be crafty about not spilling the beans on a backcountry area by stating that it is in an area that is three counties wide by talking about it being in the "NEK". If Jaysunn really didn't know what "NEK" means, then he should have stated his question more clearly. For example: "What does "NEK" mean?". Rather than asking some multi-pointed convoluted question that included something about the White Mountains. Apparently, I misunderstood his question?  In the age of Google, searching "NEK" and figuring out what result makes sense should be pretty easy (2nd result down for me).


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## Cannonball (Apr 1, 2014)

For jaysunn.   (My apologies to from_the_NEK for letting this huge secret out of the bag).....



Also for jaysunn, since you mentioned in another thread about heading to the Presidentials to hit Cannon.


Hope this helps!


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## jacknoir (Apr 1, 2014)

Who's whining now?


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## steamboat1 (Apr 1, 2014)

jacknoir said:


> Who's whining now?



Umm........................you.


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## jacknoir (Apr 1, 2014)

Maybe you would have been less sensitive if I hadn't said "friggin." But you were the one copping an attitude. I'll let you have the last word though,  because I can tell your ego needs that.


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## from_the_NEK (Apr 1, 2014)

My sensitive ego has been satisfied. I can sleep well tonight. Tomorrow it may need some more stroking. :lol:


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## Sick Bird Rider (Apr 1, 2014)

Well, that took a turn for the bizarre. 

I don't even live in the Excited States and I have known what "NEK" means, for, well, forever. And I am older than Scot Schmidt.

Not Even Kidding.


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## ScottySkis (Apr 1, 2014)

snow happend here normall winter


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## amf (Apr 2, 2014)

I was confused for a minute.. I thought it could have been in the ADK's.


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## Glenn (Apr 4, 2014)

This thread delivered in more ways than I expected.


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## bigbog (Apr 4, 2014)

Glenn said:


> This thread delivered in more ways than I expected.



LOL.....nice stuff in_the_NEK.


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## kingdom-tele (Apr 8, 2014)

nice work and pics NEK.


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## jaysunn (Apr 8, 2014)

Thanks At @cannonball and @fromthenek.  I got it now, just need to get in the truck and explore it.


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## Puck it (Apr 8, 2014)

Cannonball said:


> Also for jaysunn, since you mentioned in another thread about heading to the Presidentials to hit Cannon.
> View attachment 12173
> 
> Hope this helps!



But Lincoln is on the Franconia Ridge.  Does that make it Presidential?


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## from_the_NEK (Apr 8, 2014)

Not until we have presidents Flume and Haystack. You have to have at least three peaks named after a president to be considered a "presidential ridge". :razz:


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## Puck it (Apr 8, 2014)

from_the_NEK said:


> Not until we have presidents Flume and Haystack. You have to have at least three peaks named after a president to be considered a "presidential ridge". :razz:



I have you.  There are two more presidents near Lincoln.  Garfield to the north and Big "Coolidge" to the south. Thus making the Fraconia Ridge Presidential by your own rule!!!


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## from_the_NEK (Apr 8, 2014)

Well... shit... I guess it does :razz:


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## Puck it (Apr 8, 2014)

from_the_NEK said:


> Well... shit... I guess it does :razz:


  And I will even throw in Cleveland in the for good measure!


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## Cannonball (Apr 8, 2014)

Puck it said:


> But Lincoln is on the Franconia Ridge.  Does that make it Presidential?



Nope.   The Town of Lincoln, NH  and the peak that looks down on it are named after Henry Fiennes Pelham-Clinton, 2nd Duke of Newcastle, 9th Earl of Lincoln.  



Puck it said:


> And I will even throw in Cleveland in the for good measure!



And I'm pretty sure that Mt Cleveland is named after Francis Cleveland (Grover's son).  So also not presidential.


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## Puck it (Apr 8, 2014)

Cannonball said:


> Nope.   The Town of Lincoln, NH  and the peak that looks down on it are named after Henry Fiennes Pelham-Clinton, 2nd Duke of Newcastle, 9th Earl of Lincoln.
> 
> 
> 
> And I'm pretty sure that Mt Cleveland is named after Francis Cleveland (Grover's son).  So also not presidential.






Drat.  You are being picky.  At least I got Garfield or is that named for the cat.


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## Cannonball (Apr 8, 2014)

Rules are rules!  I'm not sure about Garfield or Coolidge.  There is a lot of "Coolidge" around the area (including my street). I've tried to find out in the past if that's named for Calvin or not, but never found an answer.


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## Nick (Apr 8, 2014)

Whee


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## Puck it (Apr 9, 2014)

Cannonball said:


> Rules are rules! I'm not sure about Garfield or Coolidge. There is a lot of "Coolidge" around the area (including my street). I've tried to find out in the past if that's named for Calvin or not, but never found an answer.



So you are presidential!!


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## from_the_NEK (Apr 9, 2014)

I still haven't found "DownEast". Is there any skiing there?


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## Puck it (Apr 9, 2014)

from_the_NEK said:


> I still haven't found "DownEast". Is there any skiing there?



You can't get there from here!!!


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## wa-loaf (Apr 9, 2014)

Since when did trip reports get so exciting?

Down East:


> In *New England*, the term Down East is applied in several  different ways. In the narrowest sense, Down East refers to the coast of  the U.S. state of Maine from *Penobscot Bay* to the Canadian border, but it is sometimes used as a loose term for the entire eastern portion of the state.



Camden Snowbowl is closed for the season.


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## thetrailboss (Apr 9, 2014)

Whiskey....Tango....Foxtrot?  :blink:

Nice original TR and pics.  Way to get at it.


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## from_the_NEK (Apr 9, 2014)

I'm pretty sure we are just having fun at this point


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## from_the_NEK (Apr 9, 2014)

Here's another picture to keep this thread on track... 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





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## Cannonball (Apr 9, 2014)

Thanks for getting it back on track.  Was a kick ass report right from the start.   The geography sidetrack made it a standout!


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## Puck it (May 5, 2014)

FYI. from AMC website


*The Presidents*
White settlers more typically named mountains after white leaders. That's what a group of seven men from the town of Lancaster, N.H., set out to do on July 31, 1820. They wanted to put some names on the map, perhaps knowing that once in print, a name was often picked up by later mapmakers and guidebook writers. So it was no coincidence that they brought along mapmaker Philip Carrigain, an important cartographer who would eventually get his own mountain. The naming party climbed Mount Washington, which was named for George Washington in 1784 for his military actions during the Revolution—he wasn't yet president. By the time the Lancaster men climbed the mountain, however, the former president was the sainted father of the country. They thought his peak deserved august company. That day they picked out appropriate prominences for the most prominent men of the day. With Carrigain's help, they honored John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe with mountains.
But the naming party still had mountains it wanted to name, so it added one for Benjamin Franklin—this being 1820, they had run out of presidents. They also named a nearby pinnacle Mount Pleasant, having apparently run out of better ideas. More presidents have since been added to the range. The USBGN supported a push to change the name of Mount Pleasant to Mount Eisenhower in 1970, shortly after the death of the former general and president. The Presidentials also include John Quincy Adams and Franklin Pierce, who got in because he was a New Hampshire native. (Some people still know the peak by its former name, Mount Clinton, after Dewitt Clinton, an important New York politician of the early 1800s.) In 2003, the New Hampshire legislature tried to add another president to the range, voting to change Mount Clay, named for 19th century statesman Henry Clay, to Mount Reagan. But the USBGN voted to keep the former name. In 2010, a peak in the Presidentials named simply Adams 4 was renamed Mount Abigail Adams to honor her life as wife and vital private counsel to John Adams. She was, of course, also the mother of John Quincy Adams.
Other presidents—both great and not so great—have been honored with mountain names elsewhere in the Whites. They are: Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield (who was honored shortly after—and presumably because of—his assassination), Grover Cleveland (he summered nearby), and Calvin Coolidge (perhaps because, as a native Vermonter, he was a New Englander). Some people might think Mount Jackson should be added to the list, but that summit is named not for Andrew, the sixth president, but for Charles Thomas Jackson, a New Hampshire state geologist who conducted research in the Presidentials.


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## from_the_NEK (May 5, 2014)

Back on track :lol:. Some Iphone video...Woooo!


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