February 25, 2023

Start/End: The Basin parking lot

Peaks: Liberty (4,459')

Elevation Gain: 3,130 ft

RT Mileage: 6.99 mi

Duration: 4 hours, 8 minutes

Snow/Ice Difficulty: Grade I

Before the end of climatological winter, I wanted to get my sister her first winter 4,000er. I decided to go with Mt. Liberty, a summit that I hadn't done in winter myself but one that I knew was fairly straightforward. We took the Liberty Spring Trail both ways, the only direct route to the summit of Liberty.

We woke up a little late, at 6:00 AM, since the Franconia Ridge is only 2 hours away and Liberty Spring Trail is rather short. We arrived at the trailhead at 8:40, and were on the trail by 9:00. The first 0.8 miles of the hike were on the Pemi Trail, which is a paved bike path in summer and a snowmobile route in winter. We then turned left at the fork onto the Liberty Spring Trail and began ascending.

The trail forked 0.6 miles in, with Liberty Spring to the left and the trail to the Flume Slide to the right. We obviously went left. However, the trail to the Flume Slide (a technical Grade II route in winter) looked surprisingly well broken out despite a big snowfall two days ago. Even with my own eyes saw two people go right at the fork, and they didn't seem to have crampons or ice axes. Worried about them for the rest of the hike.

At 2,000 ft, the trail crosses a frozen brook. The trail finally begins to really ascend after this point, with a sustained 20-25% grade most of the rest of the way. I could already imagine how great the glissading would be on the way down. It had snowed just two days earlier, and the coniferous vegetation looked spectacular above 3,000 ft, especially against a cloudy sky.

At 4,200 ft, the trail intersects the Franconia Ridge Trail. We turned right at the fork here and continued on for the last 0.3 miles to the summit of Liberty. The trail broke treeline at about 4,375 ft, 50 vertical feet below the summit. The views were spectacular; I had forgotten how beautiful the Franconia Ridge was in winter. We summited just after noon on a frigid but windless day.

It started snowing while we were on the summit, so we didn't stay very long. The trail was in excellent shape, and we descended very fast. Glissading down about a third of the Franconia Ridge and Liberty Spring trails above 2,000 ft was definitely the highlight of the day. We made it back down to the trailhead at 1:30 PM, concluding what I would say was a five-star day of hiking.