Silverfox
New member
3/15/2011
Peaks for this day were Mounts Adams and Madison, an attempt to finish single season winter 48
The day dawned clear and cool..the forecast for virtually calm winds with temps in the 20's...sometimes things just work out
The crew: Tim C, who had finished single season last week, and Cynthia who was looking to close her goal as well. We pulled into the lot and recognized a couple of cars that were out on traverse..what a day. We knew of other hikes in the loop for Washington and Jefferson..the hills are alive!!!
The rest of the story: Valley Way on ascent was firm with some dug in steps..microspikes or bareboots worked perfect to the hut with no postholing.
We decided on Adams first, last week the ice up here was fairly interesting by all reports..certainly we had run into some pretty firm icy crust on Jefferson..others spoke of scary sideslopes on Washington and Adams. . We went with snowshoes to minimize crust breaking and this proved a fine choice. Very little ice..mostly a mottled frozen granular rime surface that gripped perfect. Some long stretches of drifted snow as well which made for some soft footing. We angled upslope above Gulfside Trail and intersected Airline which we followed to the base of the cone where we circled right a bit and made final approach through snowfields to the summit. Nice route Tim. Virtually calm winds, a blazingly blue sky..just terrific..we dropped off summit more towards Lowes and circled through the large snowfields there back to Airline..again..way above Gulfside.
Once at the hut we opted for crampons for the steeper ascent of Madison and this worked fine. Very nice frozen granular crust with a few drifted areas made for very good footing. Again, on summit...there was silence..there was no wind the views spectacular and we celebrated list finish by just standing there in awe for awhile..Been up there on colder days in august for sure. We donned snowshoes for Valley Way descent and these worked well..trail smacked out pretty smooth tho a bit narrow on some of the side slopes .
It seems not that very long ago when on the first day of winter we plowed up the Firewardens Trail on Hale to kick things off. Santa came early and gave us a presi day on 12/26 where the southerns were done. New Years day in and out of the clouds on Franconia with Eric and jr. Glorious day on the Twins with Tim and Val. Kind of a blustery one with bryan on Moose. Owls Head fell in perfect conditions.. Blasted the Zealand/Bonds thing with Jeremy and Bryan then soon enjoyed a great group success day on Jefferson. Things all fell into place for the trip yesterday and the goal achieved.
a few pics from along the way that do no justice at all to the good times, good views and great friends who shared these extraordinary times
http://www.flickr.com/photos/silverfox777/sets/72157626280043862/
Peaks for this day were Mounts Adams and Madison, an attempt to finish single season winter 48
The day dawned clear and cool..the forecast for virtually calm winds with temps in the 20's...sometimes things just work out
The crew: Tim C, who had finished single season last week, and Cynthia who was looking to close her goal as well. We pulled into the lot and recognized a couple of cars that were out on traverse..what a day. We knew of other hikes in the loop for Washington and Jefferson..the hills are alive!!!
The rest of the story: Valley Way on ascent was firm with some dug in steps..microspikes or bareboots worked perfect to the hut with no postholing.
We decided on Adams first, last week the ice up here was fairly interesting by all reports..certainly we had run into some pretty firm icy crust on Jefferson..others spoke of scary sideslopes on Washington and Adams. . We went with snowshoes to minimize crust breaking and this proved a fine choice. Very little ice..mostly a mottled frozen granular rime surface that gripped perfect. Some long stretches of drifted snow as well which made for some soft footing. We angled upslope above Gulfside Trail and intersected Airline which we followed to the base of the cone where we circled right a bit and made final approach through snowfields to the summit. Nice route Tim. Virtually calm winds, a blazingly blue sky..just terrific..we dropped off summit more towards Lowes and circled through the large snowfields there back to Airline..again..way above Gulfside.
Once at the hut we opted for crampons for the steeper ascent of Madison and this worked fine. Very nice frozen granular crust with a few drifted areas made for very good footing. Again, on summit...there was silence..there was no wind the views spectacular and we celebrated list finish by just standing there in awe for awhile..Been up there on colder days in august for sure. We donned snowshoes for Valley Way descent and these worked well..trail smacked out pretty smooth tho a bit narrow on some of the side slopes .
It seems not that very long ago when on the first day of winter we plowed up the Firewardens Trail on Hale to kick things off. Santa came early and gave us a presi day on 12/26 where the southerns were done. New Years day in and out of the clouds on Franconia with Eric and jr. Glorious day on the Twins with Tim and Val. Kind of a blustery one with bryan on Moose. Owls Head fell in perfect conditions.. Blasted the Zealand/Bonds thing with Jeremy and Bryan then soon enjoyed a great group success day on Jefferson. Things all fell into place for the trip yesterday and the goal achieved.
a few pics from along the way that do no justice at all to the good times, good views and great friends who shared these extraordinary times
http://www.flickr.com/photos/silverfox777/sets/72157626280043862/
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