Note: this is not going to be a particularly interesting
entry because 1) I’ve done this one before and 2) I mostly want to make gear
notes to myself for future climbs in similar weather.
I had to be back in the Boston area for a holiday party in
the evening so this one had to be quick. I hit the road around 5:45 to make the
Lafayette trailhead ~8am.
There was already a lot of snow down, so I geared up
and opted for snow shoes to start. The trail was completely covered, but pretty
packed down. Spikes would have been fine too. It was a good excuse to use the
raised heel on the MSR snow shoes. Temperature was 7 degrees in the parking
lot. Layers were: standard socks, winter boots, long underwear, hiking pants,
shell pants (no snow pants), base layer shirt, fleece, down vest, shell jacket
(unzipped), glove liners and ski gloves. For water I had 2 Nalgenes wrapped in
wool socks and a large Gatorade.
Made good time up to the tree line. For future planning, I
should’ve ditched a layer down low and layered up more when I was getting into
the wind. I switched to spikes just before making the Greenleaf Hut (closed for
winter) where the trail breaks above the trees for the rest of the way.
Because of the wind, drifting, and frozen sections, there
effectively wasn’t a trail to the top. I followed some old footprints but they
would occasionally dead end in deeper snow. It was a mixed bag. Some sections
were hard ice such that I was glad I had the Hillsounds on. Others deeper
sections would’ve been better in snowshoes. I added neck warmer, goggles, hood,
and zipped up everything.
My feet were very cold and toes numb approaching the summit.
The last few hundred yards were quite windy and bitter cold. I spent a grand
total of 5 seconds at the top and made my way down to get out of the wind. I
couldn’t get any summit pictures as my phone would’ve died instantly. I don’t
totally understand why, but my feet actually got much warmer on the way down. My
hands were cold at times; my gloves definitely have some weak spots.
Made it down in a little over 5 hours (about 30 mins ahead
of book). Stopped at Woodstock Inn for a big bowl of chili and made it back in
plenty of time for the holiday party.
(smiling)
I saw a couple dudes with skis heading up from the hut. I
think that could’ve been a blast for a short ride. It was wide open, no rocks
or cliffs, not too steep. Obviously a lot of work to get the skis up there.
Changing into ski boots at the top also would have been horrendous.
Pictures
here
