Tom Rankin
Well-known member
(Others may post here or start their own thread)
Summary: 0 peaks obtained!
Longer version: We started out at 6:20 AM with a cast of thousands at the Santanoni trailhead. Well, maybe more like 20. (We stayed in several different groups). We made excellent time up to Times Square. A light snow was falling, and it was around 0 F. But we felt great, and the trail had been beaten down to hard packed snow the whole way. Almost no ice. Santanoni and Panther were visible in the distance. A 3 peak day seemed to loom large in our minds! Perfect so far!
We were probably somewhere in the middle of the cavalcade when we headed down for Couch. Again, there was a well broken herd path with fresh tracks. We followed eagerly, too eagerly! After about 45 minutes we caught up with the front runners. They were all wandering around looking for the way. It seemed we were on the wrong side of the ridge. Some said go left, some right. The wind was whipping and it was snowing hard now. It was still 0 F! After some discussion, most turned around and decided to attempt Santanoni proper. My pack was shredded and I had left a few things on the trail that others found for me. Several well placed branches had found my skin and left cuts, scrapes and bruises. I recalled doing Couch in the summer and having absolutely no problems!
When we got back to Times Square, some people came back from attempting Santanoni with a report very similar to Couch. We decided to essentially give up at this point and go do Panther. We started with a group of 8. Again, we soon were floundering in deep snow, bushwhacking thru spruce. Laurie was freezing and I didn't feel much better, standing around waiting for others to route find. So we turned around and almost ran back down to the marked trail. (It took us less than an hour). We started to warm up a little. The wind abated. The snow slackened. It was back to a bearable day. But Santanoni had beaten us. We trudged out in slience.
I've never failed to at least get one peak on a hike, in over 200 attempts, with 70+ in the Winter. I felt a lot of emotions during the walk out and back at the B&B : Anger at not getting even 1 peak. Humility at being beaten. Discouragement at ever completing the W46. Satisfaction that we at least had a good morning and got a lot of exercise. And eventually, a sense that we had probably done the right thing to turn around in the face of nature's wrath.
Other people began trickling back to the trailhead. A few people had at least gone to Panther. No one got any other peaks that day. Nature had put a whup-ass on us! The blowing snow and chilling temperatures had done nearly all of us in. And I counted several very strong hikers among us.
Back at the B&B, we nursed our wounds, both physical and emotional. What had we done wrong? Maps were pulled out. It appears that we were probably on the shoulder of Panther, having taken a wrong turn in the Couch herd path maze. But the near white-out conditions made it hard to decide where to go next.
On a more positive note, Timmus, Cantdog, and Pete_Hickey successfully got to the summit (that's Timmus backwards ) of Cliff and Redfield. I was told that Timmus was chiefly responsible for this feat, way to go!
Also on the plus side, Aunt Polly's B&B is an ideal place to basecamp for a trip to Allen, Cliff/Redfield or the Santas. The owners are very hiker friendly. They gave us a whole house for $165/night (that sleeps 8-12) which was fully stocked with washer/dryer, complete kitchen setup, towels, etc., etc. It also comes stocked with hundreds of Lady Bugs! They are benign, but they were everywhere upstairs! Interestingly, they were not to be seen at all in the kitchen.
Finally, the company I spent the weekend with was excellent! Thanks to Slamdog, Splitrock, Timmus, Pete, Cantdog, Jean/Nat (the conquerors!), Rejean, Eric, Rik, and especially Laurie for making the stay at the B&B a pleasant experience! Everyone pitched in and we all got along really well. And there was more beer and food then we knew what to do with! Well, actually, I took a lot of it home, in spite of copious consumption over the weekend!
Thanks to all involved for a great weekend, even if we didn't get to any summits!
Summary: 0 peaks obtained!
Longer version: We started out at 6:20 AM with a cast of thousands at the Santanoni trailhead. Well, maybe more like 20. (We stayed in several different groups). We made excellent time up to Times Square. A light snow was falling, and it was around 0 F. But we felt great, and the trail had been beaten down to hard packed snow the whole way. Almost no ice. Santanoni and Panther were visible in the distance. A 3 peak day seemed to loom large in our minds! Perfect so far!
We were probably somewhere in the middle of the cavalcade when we headed down for Couch. Again, there was a well broken herd path with fresh tracks. We followed eagerly, too eagerly! After about 45 minutes we caught up with the front runners. They were all wandering around looking for the way. It seemed we were on the wrong side of the ridge. Some said go left, some right. The wind was whipping and it was snowing hard now. It was still 0 F! After some discussion, most turned around and decided to attempt Santanoni proper. My pack was shredded and I had left a few things on the trail that others found for me. Several well placed branches had found my skin and left cuts, scrapes and bruises. I recalled doing Couch in the summer and having absolutely no problems!
When we got back to Times Square, some people came back from attempting Santanoni with a report very similar to Couch. We decided to essentially give up at this point and go do Panther. We started with a group of 8. Again, we soon were floundering in deep snow, bushwhacking thru spruce. Laurie was freezing and I didn't feel much better, standing around waiting for others to route find. So we turned around and almost ran back down to the marked trail. (It took us less than an hour). We started to warm up a little. The wind abated. The snow slackened. It was back to a bearable day. But Santanoni had beaten us. We trudged out in slience.
I've never failed to at least get one peak on a hike, in over 200 attempts, with 70+ in the Winter. I felt a lot of emotions during the walk out and back at the B&B : Anger at not getting even 1 peak. Humility at being beaten. Discouragement at ever completing the W46. Satisfaction that we at least had a good morning and got a lot of exercise. And eventually, a sense that we had probably done the right thing to turn around in the face of nature's wrath.
Other people began trickling back to the trailhead. A few people had at least gone to Panther. No one got any other peaks that day. Nature had put a whup-ass on us! The blowing snow and chilling temperatures had done nearly all of us in. And I counted several very strong hikers among us.
Back at the B&B, we nursed our wounds, both physical and emotional. What had we done wrong? Maps were pulled out. It appears that we were probably on the shoulder of Panther, having taken a wrong turn in the Couch herd path maze. But the near white-out conditions made it hard to decide where to go next.
On a more positive note, Timmus, Cantdog, and Pete_Hickey successfully got to the summit (that's Timmus backwards
) of Cliff and Redfield. I was told that Timmus was chiefly responsible for this feat, way to go! Also on the plus side, Aunt Polly's B&B is an ideal place to basecamp for a trip to Allen, Cliff/Redfield or the Santas. The owners are very hiker friendly. They gave us a whole house for $165/night (that sleeps 8-12) which was fully stocked with washer/dryer, complete kitchen setup, towels, etc., etc. It also comes stocked with hundreds of Lady Bugs!
They are benign, but they were everywhere upstairs! Interestingly, they were not to be seen at all in the kitchen. Finally, the company I spent the weekend with was excellent! Thanks to Slamdog, Splitrock, Timmus, Pete, Cantdog, Jean/Nat (the conquerors!), Rejean, Eric, Rik, and especially Laurie for making the stay at the B&B a pleasant experience! Everyone pitched in and we all got along really well. And there was more beer and food then we knew what to do with! Well, actually, I took a lot of it home, in spite of copious consumption over the weekend!
Thanks to all involved for a great weekend, even if we didn't get to any summits!
