Flume Brook Valley Snowshoe Exploration: 1/13/25

On a gray but relatively warm day I headed into the interior of the Flume Brook valley for some off-trail snowshoe exploration. I found deep powder in a vast, steep birch glade, a unique view of Mt. Flume, and more views from a talus slope on the flank of Mt. Liberty.

Mts. Liberty and Flume were visible in the morning as I descended to the Flume Covered Bridge, but for most of the day they would be in the clouds.

At the top of The Flume, Avalanche Falls was a pillar of ice.

The recent cold weather had draped the walls of The Flume with plenty of ice.

From the top of the Flume paths, I followed the snowshoe tracks I had made three days earlier on a bushwhack up the slope to the Flume Slide Trail. The tracks were partly filled with a couple inches of new powder.

 

This must be one of the champion sugar maples of the valley.

Towering.

The Flume Slide Trail had been boot-chopped over the weekend, but I smoothed it out fairly well with two passes of my snowshoes.

The two crossings of Flume Brook farther up the valley were rock-hops; despite the cold weather snow/ice bridges had not formed very well.

The first 2 1/2 miles of the Flume Slide Trail is a very pleasant hike/snowshoe, leading at mellow grades up a beautiful valley. Quite a contrast with the upper 3/4 mile, one of the most challenging trail segments in the Whites.

 

A fine sense of seclusion in the upper valley.

The north branch of Flume Brook, which flows down from the innermost recesses of the bowl enclosed by Mt. Liberty, Mt. Flume and Hardwood Ridge.

Here I headed off-trail into a glade that is the gateway to the inner sanctum of the Flume Brook basin.

In here there was superb snowshoeing through an ample cover of heavy powder atop a firm crusty base.

Heading over to the vast birch glades that cloak the eastern flank of Mt. Liberty's south ridge. These are the legacy of a 1908 forest fire that burned more than 400 acres.

Birches!

First tracks guaranteed out here.

No snow drought in these woods.

 

The upper part of Mt. Flume was socked in, but there were frequent views of the lower slides through the trees.

Deep winter beauty.

It doesn't get much better than this.

 

Flume's summit had emerged!

Farther up the slope I entered an open conifer forest where the snow cover was much thinner.

One of my objectives was a small snowy gully that shows up prominently on the most recent Google Earth image of this area. I had hoped it might offer a view, but it was too closed in with trees to provide any openings. 

As luck would have it, a small blowdown opening above the edge of the gully was positioned just right for a unique view of Mt. Flume and its great western slides.

 

This was the view I was looking for!

I was now at an elevation of 3100 ft. I knew there was an open talus slope up above at 3300 ft. The climb would be steep, and the afternoon was getting on, but I decided to give it a try.

On the way up I crossed an early 1900s logging road that I knew would provide an easier route back down the valley.

The climb was steeper than it looks here, providing a good test of snowshoe grip and maneuverability.

There's the talus slope!

I continued up through wiry birches along the edge.

One last steep pitch to get into the open.

Unfortunately Mt. Flume had put its head back into a cloud, but I still had a good view of the slides.

Many ice bulges could be seen on the lower part of the slide.

A neat view across the Flume Brook basin to Hardwood Ridge, which bears its own snowy talus patch.

It was now mid-afternoon, so my stay on the talus was short.

 

Heading back to the trees.

The trees provided helpful handholds on the steep, slippery descent.

I was happy to get down to the old logging road, which I had traversed on a previous climb to a different talus slope.

Where not obstructed by blowdowns or snow-draped conifers, the roadbed provided delightful snowshoeing.

 

Eventually I left the old road for a steep descent down the slope through the birch glades.

The steep pitch of the slope made for a challenging descent due to the hard crust beneath the powder. I did a lot of slow side stepping/sliding on the edge of control. There was also the occasional branch or rock hidden under the snow.

The glades go ever on...and down, with a few critter tracks seen along the way. At the bottom I met my inbound tracks and was soon cruising down the mellow Flume Slide Trail.

 

I followed my tracks down to the Flume paths by headlamp with a light snow falling, wrapping up a memorable day.

 

Snowshoe to Southwest Slide, Mount Liberty: 1/10/25

 

On a fine sunny yet windy day I returned for one of my favorite snowshoe bushwhacks - from the paths at The Flume up to the easy part of Flume Slide Trail, then from that trail up to the main 1883 Southwest Slide on Mt. Liberty.

The summit of Liberty was veiled in wind fog as I descended mid-morning to the Flume Covered Bridge.

 

In the past cold week the broad ledgy section of Flume Brook had become a massive ice flow.

Under these conditions traction is essential to walk the Flume-Pool loop.

 

From the high point of the Flume paths I set off on the bushwhack up the slope to the Flume Slide Trail. This whack is almost 100% through open hardwoods.

Though the cover was thin in a few places, snowshoeing conditions were excellent with several inches of new powder atop a crunchy base. The wind was roaring overhead, but was not an issue down here in the woods.

I always enjoy the mature hardwoods that cloak this slope, such as these towering sugar maples.

And this weather-beaten yellow birch.

There were no tracks on the Flume Slide Trail, and I almost went across it without realizing it.

It was fun to make first tracks on this pleasant section of trail, though the rocky stretches were bony.

Peering into the gully scoured out by the Mt. Liberty slide, which surged down into the Flume Brook valley during an intense rainstorm in June, 1883. It was powerful enough to sweep the famous suspended boulder out of The Flume, almost a mile downstream from here.

To start the whack to the slide, I crossed the boulder train deposited along the edge of the slide, known as a debris flow levee.

For a short distance I ascended through a nice hardwood glade.

Then I picked up the bed of a partly overgrown early 1900s logging sled road, which runs up the slope parallel to the brook that drains the slide.

This blowdown was a crawl-under.

 

Sections of the road are quite open and offer excellent snowshoeing.

Looking back.

There were some decent drifts of fresh wind-blown powder along the road.

Higher up, the woods along the road are open, but the climbing is quite steep. Cutting switchbacks made it easier. Overall the climb to the slide from Flume Slide Trail rises 1000+ ft. in 0.7 mile.

Eventually a branch road veers off towards the slide.

Deeper snow here.

Where I first reached the slide, I found that there was only a thin cover of snow atop solid ice, dashing my hopes of snowshoeing up the swath as I had done on previous visits with deeper snow cover. After a bit of steep and thick whacking, I emerged on a safe spot on the lower of three open segments of the slide. Facing south to the sun, and mostly protected from the wind, I enjoyed almost balmy conditions here while admiring the view out over the Pemigewasset River valley to Mt. Moosilauke and other peaks in the western Whites.

 

A closer look at the Moose. Part of Bog Eddy, a large wetland on the plateau south of Mt. Pemigewasset, can be seen in the center of the photo,

Ice bulges guard the upper end of the lower swath of the slide. Not going up that way.

I worked my way steeply up through snow-laden conifers with slippery loose snow underfoot, and came out to a shelf between two ice bulges for another view.

 

This icefall divides the lower and middle open swaths of the slide.

A steep and slippery loop through the woods brought me up to the lower end of the middle open swath.

From here I could see over towards the Coolidge Mountains near Lincoln.

 

Looking across the slide to another ice bulge.

 

Looking up the middle swath of the slide.

The view of the upper swath of the slide was blocked by a band of trees, but I could see a neat-looking ice cliff up on the headwall.

In the past I had snowshoed up to the base of the upper swath, but on this day there was ice everywhere under the thin layer of snow. I tested it out, and decided that only with full crampons would it be safe to proceed upward on the slide.

Descending through steep woods back to the lower swath.

An ice pillar hidden in the woods.

Looking back at the route used to get around the ledge band.

Back at the top of the lower swath, I took a much-needed break in the balmy mid-afternoon sun.

Heading back down the branch logging road.

Low-angle sun illuminates the main logging road.

Back down on the Flume Slide Trail, I could see a 3/4 moon riding overhead. Yay!

Sunset from the Flume Slide Trail. I followed my tracks back down to the Flume paths by moonlight and got back to my car a little after 6:00 pm.

The Liberty Southwest Slide seen from Indian Head Resort.