Mt Moriah via Stony Brook 1/19

Headed up Stony Brook Saturday morning with Sunshine Chris and her brother Erik. Very nice trail with easy brook crossings now covered with snow and ice rather than open from Kevin, Judy and Emma's report the previous weekend. Only 2" of dry powder on a nice firm base at the TH so we opted for Microspikes to start with crampons for backup. Left the snowshoes figuring they would be overkill. Had very nice views all the way up and was glad the predicted clouds were sparse. The snow got deeper as we climbed and by 2000 ft was 4" to 6" but still easy going. At around 2700 ft for a long stretch a skipper deer had bounded down the path several hundred feet then slowed to a walk. Didn't see tracks of what might have spooked it but some leaps were fifteen feet, maybe it was just having some fun! When we reached the col and Carter-Moriah Chris decided to head back and save some energy for Sundays activities. We radioed her up to keep in touch and headed North to the ledges. My first time there and the views and drop offs were exciting! The snow had gotten to 6" to 8" and by the second treed section we switched to the crampons to keep from back-sliding. Had we brought snowshoes we would have been low on traction on the ledges but better in the drifts. Sorry for any postholing that doesn't blow back in but the base was still very firm the whole trip. Reached Moriah's summit around 4:45 and sat around a bit for the sunset. I took a nice moment of silence and then a toast to fallen comrades before departing. Okay the toast is a bit Irish but it was nice prelude to the trip down. Thank You so much to an earlier party that had broken Carter-Moriah down to Gorham. It was firmed up, half a mile shorter, beautiful views down onto the city lights (all in the eye of the beholder and the frame of mind) and it was new ground neither of us had hiked! Very nice trip down off and only got strayed from the path a little where the previous had played some. Chris had gotten down by 5:00 and spotted the vehicle for us. Thanks Motorola/Verizon saved us hitchhiking in the dark or calling her back from dinner. Caught up to the festivities at Barnes and a terrific time with new friends and previous tenting out and cooking by the fire! A beautiful weekend to be out and wished I had the stamina and time for Liberty and Flume up and back Sunday! Would have been awesome views out over the Bonds in the right gear! Thanks to hospitable folks for the invite to breakfast in Gorham as well! Okay I hijacked my own post but it was special to meet you folks that are so revered within this forum!