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Ascent of North Kinsman Mountain on 2012-03-11

Climber: Casey Ajalat

Date:	Sunday, March 11, 2012
Ascent Type:	Successful Summit Attained
Motorized Transport to Trailhead:	Carpool
Peak:	North Kinsman Mountain
Location:	USA-New Hampshire
Elevation:	4293 ft / 1308 m
Ascent Trip Report We set off to do an out and back hike from Lafayette Campground starting at the Lonesome Lake trailhead to the Hut, North Kinsman, South, then back. We started out with full gear but quickly started to shed layers as we set off on the Lonesome Lake trail. By the time we reached the lake (which was fully frozen) I had a wind breaker and only my T-Shirt (yes T-Shirt). The weather was perfect. Pure clear sky and practically no wind with very mild temperatures as a warm front was forecast for that day. We decided to hike across the lake taking a beeline to the hut. We took several pictures of perfect views of Lafayette/Lincoln/Heystack in the background. Once I reached the hut I then tucked away the wind breaker and was down to only my T-Shirt which I stayed in for the rest of the hike until we came all the way back to our cars. The views from both North and South were breathtaking. Crystal clear sky as far as the eye can see. The only down side to this hike was the snow on the trail...it was starting to clump under our microspikes and that caused me some serious calf pain which translated to knee pain and then hip pain. I then switched to Crampons which was by far the best choice. The spikes when combined with the clumping lost their effect whereas the crampons held to their reputation. Other than that I would say this was one of few "winter" hikes that one can hike in a T-Shirt. Many others we crossed were also down to a T-Shirt. All in all and AWESOME hike.