Terrifying 25 Flume Slide Trail to Flume & Liberty - Four Season White Mountain 4000 Footers - NH

Excellent day with my best hiking buddy…been a long while since Mom and Dad (AKA Ash and I) have gotten out for an ole’ fashioned 3hr ride up to our "home", 8hr hike, 3hr ride back day-trip…almost 10 years since the first time we bagged these peaks together…we’ve come along way since then but here’s to many more years and peaks together! I'm currently working on my ‪@AppalachianMountainClub‬ Seasonal Four-Thousand Footers and 'tis the season to chip away at my summer peaks!
Another T25 (The "Terrifying 25" is yet another New Hampshire list, feel free to Google) down with the mostly just sketchy and not so terrifying Flume Slide Trail (just our opinions after going up it) and I only need these peaks for Spring now! Still "not gridding"!!! This made for 40/48 of AMC Seasonal Four-Thousand Footers for the month of summer, getting close!
NOTE: If you are thinking of taking the Flume Slide up to Flume, please do not attempt this after a recent rain storm, or in the winter (unless you have a boatload of experience ice climbing and/or winter hiking on very steep terrain)! Most of all DO NOT DESCEND this trail...there are many sections where you would literally be in a controlled slide or fall in order to make it down. People "do" it, but I would strongly advise against it unless you have no other choice. It was "dry" for several days before we did this and it was still quite wet and slippery. We suspected that perhaps a bit or rain hit it the night before and there were several sections where we had to dip off the ledge to make it up safely. That being said, a spring seems to run under the whole stretch of the trail and this very well could be normal state of the trail and why the guides mention this. I couldn't imagine you'd be able to get up much of the ledge section with it being much wetter than we saw it in spots. Happy hiking!
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Camera: ‪@PanasonicLumixVideo‬ GH6
Lens: ‪@LeicaCameraGlobal‬ Vario-Elmarit 8-18mm f/2.8 asph.
Filter: ‪@FreewellGear‬ Variable ND Filter
Filmed in: ‪@Apple‬ ProRes 5.7K 24FPS 422HQ
Music: Alsever Lake

[@AmandaDouin]

T25! Yay 🎉 This one looks fun! How many sections did you have to skip because it was wet? Thanks for the info (beta) on the slide section 😊.

[@nick__in__nature]

Sure thing! Yes definitely type 2 fun! We didn't find it particularly "terrifying", just sketchy because of the conditions (which I think is the usual state of this trail) but definitely a good workout...there were maybe 2-3 sections of ledge we had to just avoid because of either our boots being too wet/muddy to safely get grip on the smooth ledge or where the ledge was just too wet/mossy with flowing water to get any grip. It was a beautiful trail down below before the slide too! We suspected maybe it had rained a little the night before based on things looking wet in the woods but not positive...as with most of these I couldn't imagine descending it, even with holding onto trees you'd be in a controlled slide once you hit the steep bit. I had to put my camera away on some of the nastier portions, mostly didn't want to tempt myself to lose a hold to save my camera from hitting something. Came close once and was like this is stupid put the camera away!

[@AmandaDouin]

@@nick__in__nature Thanks for the info! Sheesh, glad you didn’t try to continue filming during those parts. I’ll have to bring my helmet with the GoPro mount lol. A climber told me if I angle the camera all the way down it will show what I’m doing instead of the rocks in front of my face. I think I’ll try that! Ty!!

[@nick__in__nature]

@AmandaDouin sounds like a great idea! Looking forward to seeing how that comes out 😀

[@ThatFrigonHiker]

@@nick__in__nature I had pretty much the same experience when I hiked this one last fall. It definitely didn't help to have a fair bit of fallen leaves trapping some moisture in places where I wish there had been more traction, but even without the leaves, I thought the rock itself had a smoother texture than a lot of the open slab where friction climbing is easier (like the summit of North Percy). It got into my head quite a bit that I couldn't really trust my footing like I usually do on a climb like this. All told, I think I only had to skip 2 sections of slab where I either couldn't reach the handhold I would need (I'm 5'6") and/or my footing was too slick. All things considered, I still really enjoyed this trail in hindsight, but not so much in the moment. Which I guess makes it the literal definition of "type 2 fun"...

[@nick__in__nature]

@ThatFrigonHiker o boy that doesn't sound like it would be fun in the Fall with wet leaves! Agreed that I think there are much steeper slabs in the Whites that are a lot more grippy! We had the exact same feeling, moss and everything was wet...but also enjoyed it...for sure "type 2 fun"! We actually watched a hiker in front of us that you can see in one spot where Ash is observing further up shimmy across and back down in that spot you see ahead. We both tried to go up that spot and coupled with being behind someone (didn't want to rush them) I was unable to get any traction going up by the arrow, same with Ash...that got the adrenaline going a bit probably more than any other spot. If it was dry/grippy I really don't think any of it was that ridiculous especially being in the trees...alas I don't think it's ever dry and grippy! The fact that every now and then you hear about people going down this trail willingly blows my mind...at best you'd be clinging on in spots in a controlled slip.