Arrow Slide (partway)

This impromptu trek was inspired by a post on newenglandtrailconditions.com that I read over breakfast. A hiker had done the loop over the Hancocks the day before and noted that three skiers had broken off into the drainage at the foot of North Hancock, presumably to ski the Arrow Slide. This presented a potential opportunity to ascend partway up the slide on a broken track. I let Forrest Chess, new owner of the Mountain Wanderer, know of my plan. He said he might try to catch up after some morning business.  I headed off from the empty, windswept Hancock Overlook lot a little after 11:00 am.

Thanks to the snowshoer and the skiers, the track of Hancock Notch Trail was in mint condition for snowshoeing.

I always stop at the 1.3 mile mark to catch this view over the North Fork of Hancock Branch to the ridge of South Hitchcock.

A wintry scene heading to the Cedar Brook Trail junction.

Familiar signs.

Plenty o' snow out here in the Hancock backcountry.

Beautiful open spruce woods along Cedar Brook Trail.

Flat, boggy country approaching the junction with Hancock Loop Trail.

In we go.

Nice snow bridge for the North Fork crossing.

One of my favorite glades on Hancock Loop Trail.

Quite the trench.

Would be some tough bushwhacking out here right now.

Loop junction.

Nice view of the Arrow Slide on the short descent to the base of North Hancock.

Following the skiers' tracks off trail over to the base of Arrow Slide.

Beautiful little approach.

Bottom of the slide runout. The skiers had created a pretty nice track, though I took care to step softly with my snowshoes. Only punched through a handful of times.

The slide opens up.

The upper slide in sight ahead.

From the early 1900s until the Hancock Loop Trail was opened in 1966, the Arrow Slide was a principal route for ascending then-trailless Mount Hancock. Overall the slide is 1,800 ft. long. The lower 1,150 ft. is a long, narrow gully-like swath that is choked with boulders. This winter it is completely filled in with snow. It has a relatively mild slope of 25 to 29 degrees. That's still fairly steep.

As I was slowly snowshoeing up the swath, I heard someone coming up behind me. It was not Forrest - it was a backcountry skier named Ryan with whom I had chatted a few weeks ago by Gem Pool on Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail. In the morning he had gone partway up the slide on East Osceola above Upper Greeley Pond and had found poor conditions. So he decided to give Arrow Slide a try, as it is just up the road.

I let him pass by as he was ascending at a far better pace than I was.

I continued my leisurely ascent and paused every so often to look back at looming South Hancock.

At ~3,550 ft. I found a sunny spot on the edge of the slide with a view back towards East Osceola and hung out for a while for a late lunch.

Closer look at East Osceola and partly-screened Mount Osceola.

After a while I continued up, with the upper slide coming back into sight.

 

Ryan was making his way around an ice bulge up there.

Just then I was hailed from below - it was Forrest, who had started in an hour and a half after me. It was great to see him!

We rendezvoused at a spot along the edge with ample room for Ryan to ski down and studied the wide and ledgy upper part of the slide, which has a much steeper pitch at 33-35 degrees. The Arrow Slide was used as the ascent route by two AMC groups - the first led by noted winter trip leader Robert L. Collin and the second including the renowned mountaineers Robert and Miriam Underhill - for the first known winter circuit of the Hancock peaks on March 6, 1960. “There were ice cliffs in the middle of the slide,” wrote Nancy L. Collin in Appalachia. “In places the snow-cover over base rock and ice was thin and the footing tricky. A few ice steps had to be cut and many steps were whacked through the crusty snow.”

We watched as Ryan made his way down. 

Here he comes! When he got down to us he told us that the snow up on the ledges was quite crusty.

Off he goes!

There was better skiing on the softer snow down here.

 

 

Almost out of sight.

Forrest and I continued up a bit farther, though not quite to the base of the ledges. The slide was getting steeper and the snow crustier, and it was after 3:30 pm, so at ~3,650 ft. we headed back down.

Forrest taking in the view of South Hancock. Our MSRs proved their worth on a rather steep and slippery descent.

Another angle.

I spotted a small white pine on one of the gravel slopes gouged out by the slide. On a previous visit I had found a diminutive white pine near the top, at 4,100 ft. The date of this slide is uncertain, but it is at least 120 years old.

Parting shot looking back up the slide.

 

A zoomed look at Mount Osceola and the Dogleg Slide.

A peek at the Arrow Slide from Hancock Loop Trail just below the loop junction, and also a smaller slide just to the west that I call Little Arrow Slide.

Closer look at Little Arrow Slide, which is quite gravelly in summer.

Golden hour on lower Hancock Loop Trail. We only needed headlamps for the last mile or so on Hancock Notch Trail.