A Bad Way from Marcy to Gray, plus Skylight, 2/14

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JoeCedar

Active member
Joined
Oct 7, 2003
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Location
Keene, NY
This was supposed to be a fun hike, you know, do something different, try new routes, get out of the rut . . . but it didn’t turn out that way. I have gone directly from Marcy to Gray in winter several times, mostly in March but also in February. I thought the warmer weather this year would produce the needed crust--aka good crust, hard crust, bullet-proof crust--which allows one to walk over all that scrub, thick balsam, and blowdown which make this route almost impenetrable any other time of year. The weather forecast also looked good--sunny and warm temperatures, almost no wind—for a February day at 5000 feet.

On other trips I have crossed the summit of Marcy to the south side, then contoured around and down to the col with Gray and up to its summit. Easy every time. This time, I decided to try heading W from about 5100 ft on the NE side of Marcy where the trail gets steep on the open rock. I would contour and gradually descend around the summit cone and then head WSW up the short ridge to Gray as before.

My first indication of a problem was the thickness of trees on the N and NW slopes of Marcy. No problem, I thought, I will just stay higher on the rock and avoid them. This strategy didn’t work as the rock was heavily ice-covered and hidden under the snow, so I had to descend into the scrub and trees sooner than I wanted to. No crust, not even a partial crust—just deep snow. Everywhere which wasn’t ice was soft snow and spruce traps. The deepest was above my waist, but there were plenty of them and every step was a question not of if, but how bad the snow under me would collapse. Ever so slowly, I managed to get around to the W side, into the col, and up the ridge toward Gray. I forgot to mention, instead of blue skies the summits were in the clouds and visual reconnaissance was impossible. Instead of walking across the tops of the trees as in past trips, I was busting through heavily laden snow on the branches under the trees. It was a great feeling when I finally got a glimpse of the Gray ridge and I knew I was getting there. I saw the summit sign about 5 ft above the snow level—on one past trip it was barely showing above the snow, on another trip the sign and tree were completely gone. Well, my 2013 hike is memorable for a different reason. The 1.1 mile from the Marcy trail took me 2h20min of very strenuous bushwhacking.

The next challenge was descending the Gray herdpath, which had about a foot of new snow and was completely drifted over without a trace. Luckily, I have had problems with it before and have it pretty well memorized, so in just a few minutes I was following a set of tracks up Lake Tear. I was glad to see they headed for Marcy so I wouldn’t have to break trail in that direction too. But the trail to Skylight was pristine and had about a foot of new snow to challenge me. It wasn’t bad. Going down was great, taking 12 minutes to return the half mile to 4 Corners. Climbing Marcy wasn’t quite as pleasant and the sun was beating down my back, but it was over soon enough and I could enjoy the views which had eluded me for most of the day. The trip back to the Loj was over in 2h12min with a good snowshoe track most of the way and not too many people to pass. Next year, I think I will be a little more careful in judging when that high country crust is ready. :)

A few pics HERE.
 
Wow Joe, sounds like April Fool's Day came a little early. Just when you figure you have been through it all Mother Nature does it again! Thanks for the great report.
-Tony
 
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