Mount Liberty: 2/12/25

After doing a lot of trail breaking both on and off the trail over the last few weeks, I was ready for a hike on a packed trail. With a forecast for moderate winter temperatures and light winds, I decided it would be a good day to climb Mount Liberty, one of my favorite viewpoints in the Whites. There were several cars parked at the northbound Basin parking lot, and snowshoe tracks led onto the snowmobile-groomed bike path. The promise of an excellent packed powder snowshoe track was fulfilled as I turned onto the unofficial connecting path and then the Liberty Spring Trail.

Nobody had been on the Flume Slide Trail since the last snowfall.

 

The next mile of Liberty Spring Trail is a pleasant meander through hardwood forest at easy to moderate grades.

The one significant brook crossing had a solid snow bridge.

At ~2,500 ft. the trail swings right into a darker conifer and birch forest to commence a long and relentless climb to the Franconia Ridge Trail on the ridgecrest.

This stretch of trail, which has been called "soul-crushing," rises 1,700 ft. in 1.3 miles. Televators prove their worth on this climb.

The open woods beside the trail were inviting, but deep soft snow would mean arduous bushwhacking.

Well up on the climb I ran into "Postal Patty," a remarkable hiker who is a two-time Grid finisher. She was descending after having climbed both Liberty and Flume. She reported that the summit of Liberty was socked in when she was up there.

The snow is really piling up in the mountains.

Winter beauty around every bend.

Always happy to reach this landmark. Only 400 ft. of elevation left to reach the ridge.

But that last bit is a stiff climb.

There's the top!

Looks like a new post for the trail sign at the junction.

A lovely ramble through fir woods along the ridge.

Tunneling.

Blue sky, and summit in the clear!

Winter at its best.

Climbing to the sun.

First views north along the range, with Mount Garfield in the distance.

East across the Pemigewasset Wilderness to the dark, lurking mass of Owl's Head and the snow-caked Twin-Bond Range.

 

,Zoom on Mount Guyot and the Bonds.

 

Along the little ledgy ridge approaching the classic crags of Liberty.

Close-up.

Side view.

Distant Mt. Cabot and Mt. Waumbek are outlined in white between Mt. Garfield and North Twin.

From the summit, looking towards Cannon. Part of Lonesome Lake can be seen under the Cannon Balls.

 

A great perspective looking up the long East Branch valley to the farther reaches of the Pemi Wilderness, out by Mt. Carrigain and the Nancy Range.

Zoomed in a bit.

 

One of the great sights from Mt. Liberty is the slide-raked face of Mt. Flume, with the Sandwich Range and the Osceolas beyond.

Summit rocks.

 Nice light on the Twin-Bond Range. The Presidentials remained smothered in cloud beyond.

 

 

Mt. Guyot and the slides in the Redrock Brook cirques. At least twenty slides can be spotted from the summit of Liberty.

The Bonds, featuring the creased crags of Bondcliff. The Guitar Slide can be seen under Mt. Bond.

Across Franconia Notch to the Kinsmans.

 

Clouds advancing over Mt. Moosilauke. Time to head down after a marvelous summit stay of an hour and twenty minutes, with no one else here the entire time.

A total of eight hikers, including me, climbed Liberty this day, and all were in snowshoes. Yay! The snowshoe track was a beautiful thing to descend. The long steady section was still a leg burner, though. On the way down I met a woman who is closing in on completing her 4000-footers over 70, with only five peaks to go. Good luck!

What a pleasure to snowshoe down through the open hardwoods on the gentler lower half of the trail.