Belknap Crater on Skis

April 5-6, 1975

Our party was not one of those mob scenes of outdoor enthusiasts invading the Mt. Washington Wilderness. What else would be expected for a trip with 8–9 miles of uphill skiing and 4,000 ft. of climbing.

There were but four of us on the trip, Chuck Haddad, Ron Nunemaker, Paul and Marriner Orum. We left the car on the Clear Lake-McKenzie Highway at the lava field near Beaver Marsh. We soon found that Chuck had rented a pair of skis and the bindings kept loosening. So from then on every ½ hour we tightened bindings.

We camped in a sheltered cove about three miles from the top. It was a clear, cold night but by being out of the wind we were quite comfortable.

The next morning we continued on up the mountain. Chuck stayed in camp because of those bad bindings. We were on top at 11:30 a.m. There was considerable cloudiness on the weekend but we were on top when the mountain was free of clouds.

We had but started down and Ron broke a ski tip. A spare tip is an essential so we made the repair and continued. Between the artificial tip and loose bindings, we didn’t get back to the starting point ’till 6:00 p.m.

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