Winter???

So does anyone know offhand when winter officially starts? Do you have any special plans to usher in the new season? Last year I solo climbed Mt. Adams on the 1st day and stayed at Greyknob. This year I'm considering doing Madison.

Winter Start and End

Start: Dec. 21, 2005 1:35 PM
End: Mar. 20, 2006 1:26 PM

Hope that helps.

sli74

Dec 21st, a wednesday, hmmmmm!

Thanks Sli

Makes for a nice long weekend!

It will be weather depend on weather on 21st, but we plan to be hiking someting starting at 1:35 PM.

bobandgeri said:

Makes for a nice long weekend!

It will be weather depend on weather on 21st, but we plan to be hiking someting starting at 1:35 PM.

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Yeah, in my case, a REALLY long one, until January 4th! Woo hoo!

BTW, 'Winter' starts at different times depending on where you hike.

Sima's definition is correct for the Whites.

In NY, the hiking definition of Winter is 12/21 - 3/21, every year. Period.

Tom Rankin said:

BTW, 'Winter' starts at different times depending on where you hike.

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Not only depending on where you hike, but on where you live, and your occupation. An astronomer's concept of when winter begins, is veryu different from a car tire salesman's

Last year, a bunch did 'The last climb of the winter', when we started at something like 2:00AM to finish before 7:3something in the morning.

There could be a similar interesting climb this year, combining the NY and NE peaks. Start your climb of a peak in the Adirondacks at 12:01AM on Dec 21, When you finish, drive over to... Well VT might even give you a chance for sleeping.., wait until 1:35PM, then climb anther peak. Get TWO first peaks of the winter!

Rules CAN be fun.

I like the ADK's rule of the 21st to the 21st. Makes it easy to remember.

If that means I snuck in a few hours of hiking before it's "officially" winter, then good on me. I doubt the actual weather would have changed much during that time...

Although Pete's idea of grabbing two peaks is pretty cool.


-Shayne

Kevin Rooney said:

Same true for the end - have to be back at the customary trailhead before the close of winter.

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I wonder how many people have had to make mad dashes for the trailhead to get in under the wire.

With my hikes being notorious for going into overtime, I'd want to start extra early on that day!

-Shayne

A minor point, but the solstices and equinoxes occur when they occur. The 46er's didn't choose to define them differently, they just adopted a Dec 21st to Mar 21st definition of winter for simplicity's sake. Arbitrary, but not capricious, as my old boss used to say.