Jay H
New member
AJTIV (Al) and I went and hiked from the Loj after a roaring bonfire at LT#4 at the Loj friday night. (I never knew one could go through that many logs in such a short time! 
) After a hiker's breakfast consisting of instant oatmeal, Al and I head out of the Loj sometime around 9:30ish. A heavily packed trail led us to basically bareboot the section as expected even though it seemed 3-5 inches of blowing snow was covering the roads to the Loj Friday night. Making good time, we get to the junction of the trail that goes towards Marcy Dam and stop for a quite drink. The trail to Algonquin was still broken out but it was still hardpacked underneath and Al, nor I felt any need for crampons or snowshoes. Eventually, we started passing small groups... group of 2, a small group of 3. At which point before the first sidetrail, Al puts on his snowshoes. The snow is getting a bit less considated as we pass earlier groups and it's getting a tad deeper and steeper.
Shortly past the Whale Tail skitrail, I put my snowshoes on and in no time pass the father/son who were breaking trail. I take the lead and continue to break the trail as the trail turns up..up..and up. Snow is still only 4-6inches but it's powdery and it's getting steeper. We had to skirt around an ice flow due to the steepness and snowshoes, but there was an obvious herdpath around through the woods which we used and eventually we got closer to the junction with the trail to Wright. All in all, it was really a nice hike so far, cold, but not windy. We knew that would change soon enough. We decided to go do Algonquin/Iriquois first, thinking if the winds were to die down, later in the day would be key. Wright is already known to be very windy, no need to be a glutton!
On to Algonquin. I continue to break the steep trail which isn't that hard but once we rise above treeline, the rhyme snow and rock ice is apparent that snowshoes aren't the best thing, but I was managing and after donning my balaclava and goggles, we pushed on. 50-60mph gusts kept us on our toes and knowing the party behind us had to be at least 30 minutes behind, we blazed a trail by following the cairns and trying to remain vertical. One small snow drift was up to my waist as I spent a good minute there fighting for a path!!!
Getting to the summit, I do manage to wait about 30 seconds for Al to come up and I manage to find the USGS marker poking itself out of some ice at the summit. Right now the wind is blowing itself towards Wright and Al and I are now making an executive decision to not push into the wind and a steep rocky descent to Iriquois so we high tail it off the summit. Somewhere below the peak itself, Al decides to don crampons. So I wait as long as I can stand but I decide to go down. I am very sketchy on my Sherpas but I trust the crampons and I know I have had great success in downclimbing some of the peaks and I wasn't too keen on stopping and putting my crampons on. So I scootered down til I got some protection and waited for Al to show up.
Eventually, we got below treeline and just a bit below that, we ran into the first group headed up. We got back to the Wright junction and I dropped my snowshoes there and donned my crampons knowing Wright is more ice than snow with the incessent winds. Sure enough, it is either ice or bare rocks up there and another sketchy peak with really bad sustained winds of 40-50mph on the peak itself. I ran up, tagged the summit and immediated ran down, saying hello to Al on the way back as he was on the way up.
Rest of the way back, both of us used crampons and left the snowshoes in the pack, got back around 5:15ish and left for the Noonmark to meet Carol and Terri after they did Cascade/Porter.
So, no Iriquois and we'll have to go back to do it in winter again.
I got some minor frostbite on my right pinkie from probably gripping my poles in some deathgrip and I must of had a draft in my balaclava cause I got some minor windburn to the left of my left eye. Other than that, we both survived and then spent another cold and fireless night at Lt#4 saturday night!!! Brrrrrrrrrr.....
I got a few pictures from the Wright/Algonquin junction but I wasn't going to take my camera out on the summit... Pictures to be posted tonight.
Jay
p.s. we never did pass the father/son on the way back or on wright, so I can only hope that they turned back. I don't know if I would want my young son to be up there. I was probably at 145lbs with my pack and felt myself wanting to take off a couple time. Wright was even worst with the bare rocks and crampons...
) After a hiker's breakfast consisting of instant oatmeal, Al and I head out of the Loj sometime around 9:30ish. A heavily packed trail led us to basically bareboot the section as expected even though it seemed 3-5 inches of blowing snow was covering the roads to the Loj Friday night. Making good time, we get to the junction of the trail that goes towards Marcy Dam and stop for a quite drink. The trail to Algonquin was still broken out but it was still hardpacked underneath and Al, nor I felt any need for crampons or snowshoes. Eventually, we started passing small groups... group of 2, a small group of 3. At which point before the first sidetrail, Al puts on his snowshoes. The snow is getting a bit less considated as we pass earlier groups and it's getting a tad deeper and steeper.Shortly past the Whale Tail skitrail, I put my snowshoes on and in no time pass the father/son who were breaking trail. I take the lead and continue to break the trail as the trail turns up..up..and up. Snow is still only 4-6inches but it's powdery and it's getting steeper. We had to skirt around an ice flow due to the steepness and snowshoes, but there was an obvious herdpath around through the woods which we used and eventually we got closer to the junction with the trail to Wright. All in all, it was really a nice hike so far, cold, but not windy. We knew that would change soon enough. We decided to go do Algonquin/Iriquois first, thinking if the winds were to die down, later in the day would be key. Wright is already known to be very windy, no need to be a glutton!
On to Algonquin. I continue to break the steep trail which isn't that hard but once we rise above treeline, the rhyme snow and rock ice is apparent that snowshoes aren't the best thing, but I was managing and after donning my balaclava and goggles, we pushed on. 50-60mph gusts kept us on our toes and knowing the party behind us had to be at least 30 minutes behind, we blazed a trail by following the cairns and trying to remain vertical. One small snow drift was up to my waist as I spent a good minute there fighting for a path!!!
Getting to the summit, I do manage to wait about 30 seconds for Al to come up and I manage to find the USGS marker poking itself out of some ice at the summit. Right now the wind is blowing itself towards Wright and Al and I are now making an executive decision to not push into the wind and a steep rocky descent to Iriquois so we high tail it off the summit. Somewhere below the peak itself, Al decides to don crampons. So I wait as long as I can stand but I decide to go down. I am very sketchy on my Sherpas but I trust the crampons and I know I have had great success in downclimbing some of the peaks and I wasn't too keen on stopping and putting my crampons on. So I scootered down til I got some protection and waited for Al to show up.
Eventually, we got below treeline and just a bit below that, we ran into the first group headed up. We got back to the Wright junction and I dropped my snowshoes there and donned my crampons knowing Wright is more ice than snow with the incessent winds. Sure enough, it is either ice or bare rocks up there and another sketchy peak with really bad sustained winds of 40-50mph on the peak itself. I ran up, tagged the summit and immediated ran down, saying hello to Al on the way back as he was on the way up.
Rest of the way back, both of us used crampons and left the snowshoes in the pack, got back around 5:15ish and left for the Noonmark to meet Carol and Terri after they did Cascade/Porter.
So, no Iriquois and we'll have to go back to do it in winter again.
I got some minor frostbite on my right pinkie from probably gripping my poles in some deathgrip and I must of had a draft in my balaclava cause I got some minor windburn to the left of my left eye. Other than that, we both survived and then spent another cold and fireless night at Lt#4 saturday night!!! Brrrrrrrrrr.....
I got a few pictures from the Wright/Algonquin junction but I wasn't going to take my camera out on the summit... Pictures to be posted tonight.
Jay
p.s. we never did pass the father/son on the way back or on wright, so I can only hope that they turned back. I don't know if I would want my young son to be up there. I was probably at 145lbs with my pack and felt myself wanting to take off a couple time. Wright was even worst with the bare rocks and crampons...
