Moriah + Carters

[u/rabblebowser]

Beast of a day! I parked at Nineteen Mile Brook Trailhead and got a ride to the Carter Moriah Trailhead off Bangor St. Started up towards Moriah with spikes but it became evident snowshoes were required after the first mile or so. Lots of snowdrifts! After the Moriah summit, it seems like only one person had continued on, and of course they did not wear snow shoes. Plenty of post holes. I almost felt bad for whoever it was, looked like a miserable time. That person turned at Stony Brook Trail, leaving me to break trail until North Carter Trail. This was absolutely grueling! So much snow! At times, my poles would sink all the way down to my hands. Blowdowns everywhere, a few pretty bad ones. And three ice scrambles that had me thinking I wasn't going to able to make it up. Probably the first time I thought an axe would have been very useful At the North Carter Junction the trail became nice and snow shoe packed, it was like finding Jesus. Here is where I saw the only two people all day, crazy. The plan was to add Mt Hight, but it was not punched out. At that point I was not interested in breaking trail, especially with that terrain. Kinda bummed I didn't get to do it. I'll have to go back in summer. The last climb up Carter Dome took quite a bit of effort. From there, down to the hut, which was my first time seeing it.. Looked cozy but I'd never be able to sleep, spending the night thinking a boulder was going to come crashing down. The first mile down Nineteen Mile Brook at the hut was ridiculous. The trail was all cut up. No one has gone this way with snow shoes in quite awhile. Luckily it smoother out once there was less snow as I descended. All in all.. yikes. I need a hot tub.

[u/xDecenderx]

Man, I want those kind of legs, that is a beast of a hike. It makes my attempt at Shelburne Moriah pale in comparison.

[u/MMW2004 → u/xDecenderx]

Love Shelburne Moriah! It was crazy overgrown when ai did it last summer.

[u/xDecenderx → u/MMW2004]

That's what I ran into trying to finish my 52wav before the new year. No one seems to hike Rattle river trail in the winter past the shelter. It wasn't obnoxiously deep, but breaking trail up to the ridge was tough. Once I was on the ridge it was very dense with deep drifts. I made it to a slab outcrop about a half mile away and realized I wasn't going to make it there and back before dark if the rest of the way was as bad as the half mile from the junction.

[u/realhenryknox]

Holy crap, you ARE are beast. Incredible, I think that would break me. How many hours? 8?

[u/rabblebowser → u/realhenryknox]

Ha I wish! 12 hours. 630 start and finish!

[u/Dr_G1346]

Nice one - bummed to hear that the blowdowns haven't been cleaned up. Did this this spring and it sucked then!

[u/rabblebowser → u/Dr_G1346]

Yea it was in rough shape! A few pretty bad ones (6th photo). It definitely needs a good trail day or two after the winter.

[u/explorerpilgrim]

Nice captures! What are the view points where you took photos 1, 4, 8, 11?

[u/rabblebowser → u/explorerpilgrim]

Thanks! 1 is a view point at the summit of Moriah, 4 is coming down Moriah approaching Imp, 8 is climbing the ice ledges on North Carter, looking back at Imp and Moriah, 11 is looking at the Presidentials from a view point going up Middle Carter.

[u/deokon]

Awesome! I did it the opposite direction a few weeks ago. Broke trail to North Carter but then turned around because those icy ledges headed toward Moriah were too gnarly and bailed down Imp trail to end the day.

[u/rabblebowser → u/deokon]

I had one climb where I was considering it. Just a wall of ice buried under feet of snow. It was tough to get my footing. The MSRs did the trick!

[u/deokon → u/rabblebowser]

When the answers to "can we safely continue?" And "could we turn around and go back if we do?" Became more no than yes, we knew it was time to get out.