Skiing Mt Garfield - any beta?

[kletter1mann]

Hey, I just hiked the Pemi loop and was thinking about skiing in the general area. I was looking at the "backcountry" trail descriptions on Trails.com. They say that Mt Garfield is intermediate, whatever that means. The website lets people review the various trails and the only reviewer said it was 100% survival skiing and the group was badass pro level skiers.

Can anybody comment on what the ski down is like? Something doesn't add up here. I've got AT setup, ski tucks regularly -- pretty strong skier but still pretty new to backcountry stuff like this. Comments greatly appreciated!!

[icelanticskier]

with so many other unbelievable options out there, you may be wasting yer time.

then again, i personally have never checked it out as i tend to check out things that look good from the road, but that doesn't mean it isn't good. go check it out and let us know.

there are other spectacular options up that way tho.

rog

[RR]

In spite of his silly siggy*, Rog is probably right about Garfield. Of the three TRs I have seen, none was less than Class 3 fun. That is, no one got hurt but suffering seemed to be in the majority.

In Good snow years Cardigan is a great way to get started on BC.

Moosilauke is usually very good except after wicked ice storms...it takes weeks for the keeled over trees to shed their heavy build-up of snow and ice. Most of the way up/down it's not a problem, it's just the 1/3 mile between the snow machine turnaround and the summit cone that gets impassable. Really, it's just the lower 150 yards of that section that prevents summit access....trust me..if gets really bad.

However, if the Moose hasn't been whacked by a severe ice storm, it's a really good BC mountain with stout trails and the easy carriage road.

* he was "squatting to pee" long before tele was cool and can still rip in prayerfull mode but he claims to have come to his senses

[tweb]

I tried it last year based on the NH backcountry book.

It's a long way in there in the winter. The road to the trail head becomes a snowmobile trail that is closed to cars. There is one nice birch glade with about 100-150 feet of vertical, for the rest AT gear is kind of overkill. I think the summer trail head is 5 miles from the ridge.

I skied it in snow, I guess it might be close to survival skiing if the trail was firm and icy. It's not particularly steep.

[kletter1mann]

So it sounds like the guide is basically a lot of crap. My brother has a house that's pretty close to Garfield, MtWash is 2x as far. But his place is also half as far to Moosalauke. Thanks!

[riverc0il]

I hiked Garfield once. Pretty flat. Didn't seem like it would be very fun to ski.

If you are refering to the Goodman guide, you gotta keep in mind when reading the book that half of the tours are meant for folks on light touring gear. Even the second edition of the book(s) were published prior to the major AT boom that happened this past decade and the original editions were ever further before that. If the Goodman book does not say that a particular tour would be an excellent snowboard descent, it probably isn't going to be much fun for the average AT skier either.

[surf88]

NtrenT went up Garfield on his AT gear a few years back, if I remember right he did nt seem to think it was worth it. On a pemi loop related side note the slide path on the backside of lafayette looks pretty phat.

[icelanticskier]

the slide path on the backside of lafayette looks pretty phat.

WHOO!

rog

[Telemark]

http://www.hikethewhites.com/garfield2/index.html

It was fun, but not a particularly challenging ski. You spend most of your time just riding the trail down, not a lot of turns to be had. In better snow with more burly gear you can probably do more turns, but you still have long stretches of rolling terrain.

I agree with riverc0il about Goodman's book. On light gear it was a fun time, if not wildly turny. It's similar to the Wildcat Valley trail, but without as nice a birch glade. There may be some hidden stashes up there but I've never found them.

[icelanticskier]

There may be some hidden stashes up there but I've never found them.

maybe not quite exactly there. BUT, there are some nearby on the same side of the road that put dwarfland to shame.

it's out there.

rog

[stoneman]

Rog: I think Texans are from Texaco.... and Exxon, and Phillips, and Gulf.