February 8, 2025

Start/End: Ferncroft Trailhead

Peaks: Whiteface (4,020'), Passaconaway (4,043')

Elevation Gain: 4,000 ft

RT Mileage: 11.73 mi

Duration: 9 hours, 51 minutes

Snow/Ice Difficulty: Grade I

Two weeks after Moriah, I was back in the Whites on the 8th for Whiteface and Passaconaway. I'd already hiked these summits in winter before, but my sister needed them for her 48, so here we were.

Waking up at 4:30 AM, we left the house just before 5:00, and arrived at the parking lot at 7:15. It was 12° at the trailhead this morning, which felt rather balmy compared to -17° two weeks ago, and we were out of the car pretty quickly. After a short road walk, we reached the Blueberry Ledge Trailhead and began ascending. Right out of the gate we noticed the trail was not packed down at all after the recent snow on Thursday, and after post-holing to the knee across a section that was completely drifted over we considered turning back. Fortunately, trail conditions improved a little to acceptable levels shortly, and we pressed on.

One of my favorite parts of the Blueberry Ledge Trail is the conifer glades section between 1,700 ft and 2,000 ft. It's a nice preview of the coniferous forest higher up on the mountain, and in my opinion on Whiteface the glades are actually more aesthetic than the actual coniferous forest.

After the glades, the trail re-entered the hardwood forest. Around 2,600 ft, the trail steepened significantly where the snowpack hid what would have been a staircase in the summer. Several times I stepped on what looked like solid snow only to hit crust and slide back down, which was very unpleasant. The trail continued its steep ascent into the coniferous forest, before flattening out as it approached the Tom Wiggin Trail junction.

Around this point, several small groups of hikers passed us in quick succession, almost all of them with snowshoes, which made the going much easier for the rest of the hike on packed trail. This was good considering we reached the Tom Wiggin junction around the same time as the last time I hiked these summits in winter, despite starting an hour and a half earlier today. From the junction, the trail began ascending Whiteface's southeast ridge gently, before abruptly reaching the ledges that give the trail its name.

The most difficult of the ledges had considerably more snow than the last time I was up here, but there was still enough exposed rock to make it up with just spikes. However, the ledge right above this, which I had always viewed as easier, gave us much more trouble, and we pulled out the old ice axe for that one. After the ledges, the trail continued ascending the southeast ridge, with exposed rock offering viewpoints every so often. Of course, the best viewpoint was on the false summit of Whiteface, which we reached just after noon.

A few snow showers came through while we were on the false summit, which made everything just a little grayer and moodier. After a short photo session, we set off on the Rollins Trail towards Passaconaway, first crossing the true summit of Whiteface of course. After around a mile of ups and downs, the trail finally descended into the col between the two summits, where the Rollins Trail met the Dicey's Mill Trail. It was this trail that was to take us the final 800 vertical feet up to the summit of Passaconaway.

For the most part Dicey's Mill was a much gentler, easier ascent than Blueberry Ledge, although there was one steeper section that someone had glissaded where traction was a little difficult. The trail flattened out again after this, and we gained the wooded summit of Passaconaway shortly.

By the time we summited Passaconaway it was already 3:30 PM, so a detour Passaconaway View Spur (arguably the best view on the whole hike) was unfortunately ruled out. In fact, I was worried whether we'd even be able to make it back to the parking lot before dusk. Fortunately, we were able to cruise down the packed Dicey's Mill Trail apart from a few flat sections near the bottom, and we had made it back to the parking lot by 5:20, just in time for sunset.