Solo Winter Presidential Traverse

Introduction

I always check trip reports before doing any long-ish hike so I feel compelled to give back.  On Thursday March 12, 2020 I did a southbound hike of the traverse and want to share how it went, what I used and some tips.

I drove up from my place in southeast CT on Wednesday night and slept in my car at the Madison trail head.  After getting back to my car, I drove home the same day.

Quick Stats

Departure: 3:22am from Appalachia Trailhead (slept in my car on Wed. evening) Madison Summit: 6:24a Adams: 7:26a Jefferson: 8:36a Washington: 10:24a Monroe: 11:31a Eisen: 12:44p Pierce: 1:15p AMC Highland: 2:14p

Total Time: 10:51, Avg Pace 34:01/mile.

Weather was nice, low wind and probably mid-20’s.  Overcast but clear in the morning.

Thoughts and Advice

1. Weather!  I religiously checked the higher summits forecast as well as www.mountain-forecast.com.  The days before and after my traverse had 80-100MPH winds. On my traverse the forecast was 30-40MPH, but I never felt more than a stiff breeze briefly while on Washington.  Otherwise wind was a non-factor which makes me think the wind was less than the forecast. Had I dealt with 80-100 MPH winds, I probably would have lost hours and perhaps not even finished.   So to sum this up: check the weather and go on a nice day.
2. Trail conditions: I knew we hadn’t had much fresh snow in several days, maybe weeks, so the trails would be packed down and easy to follow.  We also had 6-12 inches forecast which would mean slower travel times so I chose a day just before the storm.
3. Know the route.   This seems obvious, but I mistakenly took Watson Path instead of Valley Way to the summit of Madison.  I had to break trail for about a mile (and lost the trail twice) whereas if I had taken Valley Way, not only would I be on the official Pres Trav route but I would have also saved lots of time.  Additionally, I went over Pierce down to the MIzpah Hut instead of doing an out-and-back to Pierce and going back to Crawford Path. Again, this cost me time and also was not the official route.  
4. Assess your abilities and pack accordingly.  I had done about 10 winter hikes prior to the traverse this winter season so I knew I would probably handle the Pres pretty well.  I set a conservative goal of 1MPH hour which I ended up exceeding because the trail was so well packed down. I had just read two FKT trip reports by Jeff Garmire who is a MONSTER (www.freeoutside.com) and was very inspired by the minimal gear he uses on FKT attempts.  While I am not fast like he is, I decided to bring minimal gear to keep my pack weight down and increase my speed on the trail.  I would not recommend doing this unless you are very confident in your winter hiking skills AND you are confident the weather will hold.  You are responsible for your safety-- don't think that some random guy on the internet knows more than you about what you can do and what is safe.  

Gear List

Disclaimer: I brought the bare minimum and I don’t recommend this as a conservative gear list:

1. Consumables:
1. 2 L of water in various Smart Water bottles
2. 4x snickers bars, 2x larabars, 2x vermont beef sticks, 1x Chick-fil-a sandwich, 1x bag of krave beef jerkey, 1x tube of Hammer nutrition tablets
2. Clothes:
1. Outdoor Research Cirque pants
2. Synthetic t shirt like what you get from a 5K
3. R1 hoodie (wore this almost the whole time)
4. Some Mammut puffy, don’t know model.  Didn’t wear it once.
5. Cheap shell jacket, High Sierra I think.  It cost $10! :D Take that overpriced Arcterix jackets.  I wore the shell about 75% of the time.
6. Darn tough socks (had an extra pair in the pack too)
7. Oboz lightly insulated boots (forget the model.  I wore these as a compromise between trail runners and mountaineering boots.  They are almost as light as trail runners and used to be waterproof).
8. Microspikes.  Wore these 95% of the time.
9. Ultra light smartwool hat
10. Buff
11. Lightweight wool gloves
12. Black Diamond heavy duty gloves (never wore these once)
3. Other:
1. Camelbak HAWG tactical bag (not very light, but it's the lightest pack I currently have). 
2. Black diamond headlamp
3. Fenix PD35 (?) flashlight. Very helpful going up Madison: I went from cairn to cairn in the dark and used this very bright flashlight to see the next cairn.  
4. First aid kit
5. MSR carbon folding ski/trekking poles
6. Ski goggles (useful a few times when the wind/precip got annoying)
7. Black diamond front point gaiters.  Didn’t need these; wouldn’t wear them again if I had the same conditions.  No deep snow = no need.
8. Printed map as a backup (didn’t use)
9. Smartphone with Gaia pre-downloaded.  Lifesaver!
10. Earbuds (wore them for less than an hour, but they helped on the climb up Washington)

Tips to Do The Presidential Traverse “Fast”

I use "fast" in quotes because I heard of a Canadian who did a yo-yo winter traverse in 14 hours.  Fast is a very relative concept!

- Wait for perfect weather - Have another fast person to push your pace - Don’t stop.  I only stopped for more than 15 minutes once at Lake of the Clouds to eat my chicken sandwich.  I stopped a few times for things like changing from snowies to spikes, putting in earbuds, and taking photos, but if I did it again I'd just to make these stops faster.  

Random Thoughts

1. I didn’t bring any survival gear.  I have a SOL emergency bivy that I intended to carry but forgot at home.  Otherwise though, I figured that the Pres is busy enough that if I got in trouble, odds were I’d see someone.  Is that risky? Yes. You make those calls for yourself as you see fit.  
2. 2L water was plenty.  I was thirsty at the end but I saved a lot of lbs by carrying less.  I’ve just been on SO many hikes with liters leftover which seems so unnecessary.  Had I been in a more remote part of the Whites, I would have brought more but there are so many other hikers, the risk seemed low. 
3. As I mentioned, I took the wrong trail several times due to lack of research beforehand.  Don’t make the same mistake and make sure you know the route. I also added on a few peaks (Quincy and Franklin) for fun.  I wouldn’t do it again but it was fun for my first Pres.
4. I met another hiker by chance on Madison.  I was ahead for a while but we met up again on Washington and did the rest together.  Nice to meet you Steven!
5. Steven and I hitched a ride back to Appalachia.  People were very nice up in NH!

Conclusion

Thanks for reading.  If you are in decent shape, a one-day winter Pres it is very doable.  That said, know your limits and think carefully through each risk.

Good luck!

Photos

Strava:

https://www.strava.com/activities/3179527826