The Tripyramids, White Face, and Passaconway Traverse
"Roads, where we are going we don’t need roads." Doc - Back to the Future
This past Friday I knocked out 4 more of the NH 4000' peaks (20-23), North and Middle Tripyramid, White Face, and Passaconway, as part of a 22 mile mostly out and back route that completed the Trypyramid loop.
Pre-Planning Notes
Now that I have done a few of these run / hikes, I have learned that a bit of planning is essential both to safety and to having a good day. Below are the notes I put together on this one. The route was estimated to have > 5000' climbing on some gnarly trails. I also marked water refill spots and what the possible bail out points were.
Route: https://www.strava.com/routes/21223756
Distance: 22.3
Elevation: 5837’
Parking: Livermore S Trailhead - https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/whitemountain/recarea/?recid=74671
Bailout Options
- Tripyramids Loop: 10.2
- Whiteface + Tripyramids Loop: 17.4
Sections
Livermore Rd Trail East - 3.5
Tripyramids North Side Trail - 2.2 (5.7)
North Tripyramid - 4.6 (4180’)
Middle Tripyramid - 5.25 (4140’)
Kate Sleeper Trail East - 2.9 (8.6)
Downs Brooke (Water Refill) 7.9
Rollings Trail South - 0.1 (8.7)
Whiteface - 8.7 (4020’)
Rollins Trail North - 2.3 (11)
Dicey’s Mill Trail North East - 0.8 (11.8)
Passaconway - 11.8 (4043’)
Dicey’s Mill Trail South West - 0.8 (12.6)
Rollins Trail South - 2.2 (14.8)
Kate Sleeper Trail West - 2.9 (17.7)
Downs Brooke (Water Refill) 15.5
Tripyramids South Side Trail - 2 (19.7)
Slide Brooke (Water Refill) 18
Livermore Rd Trail West - 2.6 (22.3)
References
The Traverse
The day begin with a 4:10 wake up and on the road by 4:30. Arrived at the trail head (Livermore S) around 6:30 and was moving by 6:45. Livermore is a parking lot in the middle Waterville Valley's cross country ski area. It is surround by fire roads, double track, and single track.
The first 3.5 miles of the day was on fire roads and totally run-able terrain. The last mile before North Tripyramid trail got a bit steeper (~450 climbing), but still run-able.
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| Tripyramid North Side Trail |
About a half mile later is where the real fun began. At this point in my running career, I have been on a decent variety of terrain. I've explored many trails in the White Mountains, been out to Colorado, Wyoming, and California, and even ran up and down a few volcanoes in the Canary Islands. The Mnt Tripyramid North side Trail (or slide as they call it in the Strava segment), may be the steepest section of trail I have been on. It is .68 miles over 1433' at an average grade of 39%. It was almost entirely scrambling and produced one hell of a view of the valley below.
The Tripyramids consist of three peaks: North, Middle, and South. The North and the Middle are official NH 4000 footers. While the South is still over 4000', it doesn't meet the 200' prominence requirement.
Once you hit the North peak you get a half mile, even run-able reprieve before a short climb to the Middle peak and then another short decent and climb to the South peak. Unfortunately none of these have great views from the top, but there are plenty of great views from the trails along the way. While it was a hot and humid day, the sky was as clear as the eye could see.
Less thank a quarter mile into the descent off the South peak you come to the Kate Sleeper Trail, cut through over to White Face and Passaconway. Good think I had the route on my watch as I was completely on top of the trail head before I even realized it was there.
The next few miles were not too bad with some easy descents and minor climbs. At mile 8 is Down's brook which enabled a short break to stick your head into the cold water and refill your pack. From there was a 400 foot climb up to Rollins trail and then another 100' up to the summit of White Face, which provided the best view of the day.
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| Summit of White Face |
The question was now, "Turn back, and have a strong and fun 17 mile day, or push on to Passaconway, and have a tough 22 mile day." You can guess which I chose.
The next 2.2 miles weren't bad as they were mostly descent on a trail you could run portions of, but the climb up Passaconway as a bit of bear. I also had convinced myself it was about a half mile closer than it was and I probably should have stopped and had lunch before attempting to summit. Anyways, after a pair of 22 minute miles and a lot of sweat, I finally reached my final summit of the day and 23rd 4000 footer. After a quick sandwhich, I began my 10 mile trek back to the car.
Taking Rollins trail back to Kate Sleeper proved to be a bit more difficult than I had hopped as well. It was a slog dropping over 700' only to climb back up 700'. The first mile back on Kate Sleeper was a refreshing change. A bit head breeze followed by another dunk / fill up in Down's brook.
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| South Slide |
Once I neared Tripyramid South I had another rude awakening, a steep, but luckily short climb back up to the trail with no shade around. The next 1.3 miles was also brutal going straight down the "South Slide." It had a lot of loose gravel and I almost wiped no less than 6 times. Finally I got back onto some less technical single track and was able to really start to run again. 
I made one final pit stop at Slide Brook with just under 3 miles to go. I sat there for a few minutes knowing the hard work for the day was done.
I completed the final miles without any issues and was even able to hold sub 9s. Good, but tough day out there that was only made more difficult by the heat. Glad to knock off another 4 peaks, 25 to go.
-- 22.62 miles -- 6:24 moving time -- 7:49 total time -- 16:59 / mile -- 7118' climbing -- Strava --
After Thoughts
All and all I was pretty happy with how the day went. The pre-planning was good. The schedule worked well. Could have done a little bit more trail research to know what I was getting into. If it was a little bit cooler it would have been nice as well.
The course had a good amount of run-able terrain and it was nice to see some peaks I had not been too before.
- Scot
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