Hadley and Roundtop 12/13/14

Group of 7 arrived to find fresh powder. Nobody had signed in since 12/8. 6-10" of powder quickly became 12-18" halfway to the saddle, 24-30" along the ridge, to the summit and across to Roundtop. There were many trees bent over from the heavy snow. The striped maples really whipped up after a little shake. It was as if someone had set snares. We "released" most of them in the trail and the way is generally clear. The tower and guy wires were covered in a layer of thick frost. Our traverse to Roundtop was somewhat circuitous, but in the end it gets there. Better to stay left at the first cairn and go through a few open areas before breaking right. After that you will intersect our trail and it is OK. After getting on Roundtop we returned the same way. We descended from the Hadley/Roundtop col and followed old roads along the side of the Hadley while keeping a southerly bearing until we intersected with the main trail about 1 minute above the trail register. That whole area really was socked with snow.