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Ski
Hiking Trail Conditions Report
Peaks
Peaks Stratton Mountain, VT
Trails
Trails: Long Trail
Date of Hike
Date of Hike: Saturday, January 28, 2023
Parking/Access Road Notes
Parking/Access Road Notes: Plenty of parking at trailhead on Stratton-Arlington Rd, shared with snowmobilers. S/A road not plowed beyond parking lot. 
Surface Conditions
Surface Conditions: Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Ice - Breakable Crust 
Recommended Equipment
Recommended Equipment: Snowshoes 
Water Crossing Notes
Water Crossing Notes: About 5+/- small streams down low, all easy step overs; 3 are bridged with narrow bog bridges 
Trail Maintenance Notes
Trail Maintenance Notes: No major problems; well-marked (it's the AT); one or two small blowdowns easily negotiated.  
Dog-Related Notes
Dog-Related Notes:  
Bugs
Bugs: Nope :-) 
Lost and Found
Lost and Found:  
 
Comments
Comments: Snowshoes start to finish. Started out following a very choppy snowshoe track set by one person a day or two earlier; those tracks stopped at the IP road and from there the trail had been untouched since the last snowstorm or two. I broke trail the rest of the way to the summit. Two folks started out right behind me but turned around at about the 1.8 mile point, so from there, only my set of tracks out & back, no one else on the trail the rest of the day.

Breakable crust, about 1 inch thick most of the way, less thick higher up, covered with about half-inch of powder, with ~4 in. powder underneath down low, increasing to 6 – 8 in. higher up. It was slow going breaking through crust; I was leaving 4+ inch deep snowshoe prints most of the way up. There was the faintest trace of an old trench; at ~1.6 miles there is a faint trench residue that goes straight but the trail takes a sharp right; should be obvious now that it’s been broken out again. From about 1.8 miles on for a ways there are a lot of snow/crust/ice-laden saplings bent over and into the trail, so some sections of face-slappers (or walk-arounds). I tried to smooth out the trail as best I could on my way down, but because of the crust it is still a little choppy in spots with unconsolidated powder mixed with the crust fragments. Another couple sets of snowshoes on the trail will set it up nicely but boots/spikes will chew it up.

Turned out to be a beautiful mostly bluebird day with only occasional clouds. The summit tower is completely encased in crusty snow, including the windows in the cab.
 
Name
Name: The Wizard 
E-Mail
E-Mail: mtnrunr5267_at_gmail.com 
Date Submitted
Date Submitted: 2023-01-29 
Link
Link: https:// 
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