“Do you have microspikes?” Oh no I thought, not this again. This micro has nothing to do with microbiology, and everything to do with ice. 

Last time I was asked if I had microspikes it ended in a hike involving climbing up and down frozen waterfalls. Yes, that sounds cool, and it is. But when you have developed a fear of ice it takes a little getting used to. This fear has developed while walking around Boston, as I am never entirely sure when I am going to end up on my butt from stepping on black ice. I am considering these microspikes, metal spikes that strap on to your hiking boots, might be an excellent addition for my daily walking commute to Harvard. 

Today these microspikes are for a hike up Mount Moosilauke in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. 

The trailhead is at the Dartmouth Moosilauke Ravine Lodge, a giant log cabin that welcomes anyone for something to eat or even to stay. No snacks for us here as the lodge is closed over winter. With this closure, the road in is also closed, adding a bit to your walk as you park off Ravine Road. Not to worry you might see a moose along the quiet road. Unfortunately, all we came across of these “mythical’ creatures was poo and hoof prints. 

Once on the trail, you are surrounded by pine trees, a gentle bubbling creek and a gradual climb. You know you are close to the summit as the track steepens, the trees grow smaller, and glimmers of the surrounding mounts start to peek out through the trees. 

The exposed ridge to the summit is dotted with large stone cairns marking the way. Thankful for the microspikes to safely traverse the tightly compacted snow and ice, we made it to the summit without being blown away. We couldn’t enjoy the stunning 360-degree views for long as it was blowing blustering gale-force winds. Conditions common for the Moosilauke peak and unsurprising as just a hop, skip, and jump away on the top of Mt Washington has recorded the second-highest wind speed measured anywhere in the world of 372 km/h. 

Well worth the visit, the summit offers up stunning views in all directions. Being the western most of New Hampshire’s 48 peaks and the 10th highest, you have stunning vistas of the mountain ranges – on a clear day like ours we could see some of the Adirondack Mountains of New York and the Green Mountains of Vermont. But the best was the view to the west taking in Franconia Ridge. 

We had considered doing this hike as a loop, circling back to the ravine lodge via the carriage trail, but with the wind howling up that side of the mountain, and being an exposed trail, we decided the more pleasant option would be back down the protected route we had taken up.

It wasn’t just the stunning views that captured my attention on the summit. The natural ice sculptures created by the wind, looked like built structures, making me think of ice castles. But what is cool, is that even on a microscopic level these can be considered castles. The individual snowflake is an ice fortress built for a microbe. Bacteria and dust floating in the air act as nucleation sites for the formation of snowflakes. 

A common snowflake inhabiting microbe is Pseudomonas syringae, a rod-shaped, Gram-negative bacteria. Don’t worry, no need to stop catching snowflakes on your tongue, as P. syringae is not a superbug, instead it devastates our crops. It does have a superpower though – it can turn water into ice. This super power means that is a fantastic snowflake nucleator. 

P. syringae produced its own ice castles through a protein on the bacterial surface – the outer cell membrane protein, inaZ. The surface of inaZ mimics ice, this mimicry of structure causes water molecules that come into contact with it to arrange themselves like an ice lattice. Water molecules that have been templated into this lattice formation become ice quicker. Thus, freezing at lower temperatures and becoming a snowflake quicker. It is this protein on P. syringae that means they are able to transform water vapor into ice at temperatures higher than cloud freezing, creating their snowflake ice castle. 

The inaZ protein enables them to make more snowflakes than other ice nucleators – like dust or pollen. This has made them a key component of our man-made snowfields – P. syringae is used to make Snomax, a product that enhances snowmaking, perhaps even used at your local snow resort. This bacterial protein may be a helpful factor for the future of snow play in Australia with the ever-warming winters means less snow. This little microbe may just help ensure your next skiing adventure and even that next rain.