Driving in light snowfall we were lucky to have mistakenly gotten offroute early on so that we only got to the trailhead at 11 am, because then the snowfall was diminishing. A group of seven left the parking turnout when we arrived, and we passed it shortly thereafter, and we broke trail on only a few inches of snow on black ice, but within a half hour or so we put on crampons to cope with steepening icy terrain, then proceeded at a nice pace, getting to the summit in just over two hours in bright sunshine with surprisingly still air.
The top is bare rock with good views to the south and west, and we had it all to ourselves--unlike warm weather when hikers swarm it. The photos don't do it justice.
Coming down was tougher because of the ice, but our only casualty was a broken ski pole on a slide over an iced boulder, and we were back at Rock and River in daylight (wondering about when that group of seven would get down).
--John Tiernan
Nice adventure. Shows why winter is such a special season.
ReplyDeletePhil