rhihn
New member
Yesterday was certainly a day to be out hiking. Temps were in the high 30’s (guessing), not a cloud in the sky, and no wind. Three of us (Dick, Joanne, Moonray) trudged up to Leavitt. Lots of ice climbers out that day, apparently outnumbering the hikers. We signed in at about 8:45 or so. For Joanne and me this was a repeat performance, having been there just last Sunday with a friend to do the same thing (made it then to the lean-to after a late start, and Joanne “bonked” (cold, hungry, tired), and so we headed back). At that time we briefly met forum member Dr. Wu and friend, headed to Hunter. Today Joanne was her usual self and no problems.
Snow was firm enough for Microspikes, though we knew that would change later in the day. Not far from the lean-to we were passed by new forum member BJS. During the last half-mile or so the snow began to soften. I went through a couple of times but generally managed to stay on the surface. Keeping true to my past history, I lost my right Microspike somewhere along that stretch. Retrieved by Joanne and Moonray, they had a good belly laugh (knowing my proclivity for losing gear), and decided to see how long it would take for me to notice. I didn’t miss it until I got to the lean-to (they really weren’t doing any good at that point), when Moonray gleefully produced the other one. But we all donned snowshoes from that point on, and we kept them on the rest of the day. Met BJS at the lean-to and had a nice chat. We lunched and headed for Leavitt. Quite an easy trek that day, as one had only to “follow the yellow brick road” on the snowshoe highway to the summit. Wonderfully beautiful snow “structures” on the trees, and ice-tipped branches were seen above us. Ran into BJS as he was descending. We spent a brief ten minutes on the summit taking pictures and signing in.
Arriving back at the lean-to we ran into two other solo hikers, one of whom was to follow us most of the way down. It was there that Moonray decided to part ways and go up Hunter. Continuing down, we soon encountered a group of about 6-7 hikers, kids and adults coming from Hunter, which we more or less followed down the mountain. With all of the traffic, things were quite slick in places, and rocks were a nuisance. We need another foot of snow down there (maybe tonight?).
We got back to the lot at about 3:30 or so. The lot was jammed with cars, mostly belonging to ice climbers. We spoke with two of the climbers. Many were climbing Plateau (across the street), while others were climbing somewhere on the west side of the road between Notch Lake and Becker Hollow. One spoke of concerns over melting ice while they were up there.
That gives us a whopping ten winter peaks in the Catskills, so we won’t be finishing anytime soon. Nice to get out with Moonray again!
Photos coming soon.
Snow was firm enough for Microspikes, though we knew that would change later in the day. Not far from the lean-to we were passed by new forum member BJS. During the last half-mile or so the snow began to soften. I went through a couple of times but generally managed to stay on the surface. Keeping true to my past history, I lost my right Microspike somewhere along that stretch. Retrieved by Joanne and Moonray, they had a good belly laugh (knowing my proclivity for losing gear), and decided to see how long it would take for me to notice. I didn’t miss it until I got to the lean-to (they really weren’t doing any good at that point), when Moonray gleefully produced the other one. But we all donned snowshoes from that point on, and we kept them on the rest of the day. Met BJS at the lean-to and had a nice chat. We lunched and headed for Leavitt. Quite an easy trek that day, as one had only to “follow the yellow brick road” on the snowshoe highway to the summit. Wonderfully beautiful snow “structures” on the trees, and ice-tipped branches were seen above us. Ran into BJS as he was descending. We spent a brief ten minutes on the summit taking pictures and signing in.
Arriving back at the lean-to we ran into two other solo hikers, one of whom was to follow us most of the way down. It was there that Moonray decided to part ways and go up Hunter. Continuing down, we soon encountered a group of about 6-7 hikers, kids and adults coming from Hunter, which we more or less followed down the mountain. With all of the traffic, things were quite slick in places, and rocks were a nuisance. We need another foot of snow down there (maybe tonight?).
We got back to the lot at about 3:30 or so. The lot was jammed with cars, mostly belonging to ice climbers. We spoke with two of the climbers. Many were climbing Plateau (across the street), while others were climbing somewhere on the west side of the road between Notch Lake and Becker Hollow. One spoke of concerns over melting ice while they were up there.
That gives us a whopping ten winter peaks in the Catskills, so we won’t be finishing anytime soon. Nice to get out with Moonray again!
Photos coming soon.
