What was your toughest winter summit?

As winter approaches I was wondering which of the high peaks was the most brutal for you due to weather, trail conditions, illness etc.

For me it was Mt Moriah (yes Moriah )in January of 2001. It was just my second "official" winter hike and I was hiking with a seasoned veteran. It should've been fairly straightforward but even with snowshoes and taking turns breaking trail we were both winded by the time we reached Carter ridge. Somewhere after the left turn for Moriah my companion turned back with cold feet. I decided to push on and try for the summit........it couldn't be that bad, the map seemed to show it barely a mile from where we were.

The snow was deep in places, I'd break through to my knees and after about the third false summit I thought of turning back. My own feet had gotten cold by now, again the thoughts of turning back were creeping up one me. I caught up with a couple whose tracks I'd been following and in a short-time was at the final steep part before the summit. It was completely socked in and now snowing hard, just a quick peek and slide back down. I tried to stay with the couple on the way down but they were moving too fast, I was exhausted.

The trail was wide and easy to follow and my feet seemed to be warming up. I figured by now Steve was in his truck, warm and comfortable so I didn't try and run down the trail.......I don't think I could've anyway. I've been up a few since then, even some of the Presidentials but to me that was the hardest so far. And there was nothing quite like the feeling of triumph as I emerged onto the trailhead parking lot that afternoon. I've been hooked ever since.


#1 Moriah
#2 WildcatD
#3 Madison
#4 Washington attempt
#5 Garfield attempt

Without a doubt: Passaconaway in February 2001. It was minus 20, and I went backpacking with a hiking buddy. I felt just fine until we stopped to set up camp. I am still flabbergasted at how quickly and fiercely hypothermia struck. Thankfully I wasn't alone and my buddy helped get me into my sleeping bag in the tent and forced me to eat some macaroni and cheese.

The highlight: I still managed to bag Passaconaway the next before before heading back down!

Jefferson attempt ........ twice. Both times (1999 & 2001) the weather was great the day before the hike, but ....... turned bad during the hike. Oh well, maybe this year.

For me, it was Marcy in 2000. We started off in -20 temps and it did gradually warm up as the day wore on....to about -5 on the summit. The wind was rippin' though (approx 70 mph gusts on the summit!) My partner and I both lucked out in the sense that both of us dressed properly for the frigid temps and escaped the trip without any problems. PHEWWW!!

Owl's Head in 1/2000. -5F highs on the Lincoln Woods trail and Black Pond bushwack, -23F at camp. We seriously underestimated the snow fall on the slide , and spent about 4 hours past plan floundering up the slide and looking for the summit. We had a heavy camp consisting of 2 VE25's put together into a wilderness "palace" and lots of community gear. We ran out of food/fuel on the way down, and decided to eat everything we had left at 10 PM Sunday, when by plan we should've been home, and do the entire walk back to Rt. 112 in -20F conditions. We got out Monday at 3AM -- I called in sick.....

Toughest Winter Hike

I had a different problem. I pulled something in my leg somewhere along the way doing Dix and Hough. It's at least 15 miles, and 4500+ feet of elevation gain. I was already on my way back when the pain started to kick in. The last few miles were really tough. Fortunately, the group I was with waited for me every so often.

Moral of the story, stretch!

Killington in 1995. Towards the top, I was literally sinking into all that man-made snow up to my neck. Solo as always so I got to break trail the whole way. What a great memory!

Mt. Washington February 2003. -35F at night and I only had a 20 degree coleman bag (IDIOT). I took my glove off and gripped my ice axe and my hand didn't warm up until the next morning when I started hiking again. I put my nalgene bottle with warmed water and put it between my legs INSIDE my sleeping bag and it froze the next morning. So you know what else was below freezing down there... . All in all, i dont think i want to ever do that again, at least not until i get a better bag. Oh yeah, all i had for insulation was my 300 weight fleece jacket. Was not one of my better prepared trips...and i made quite a few mistakes. However, i got off with not frostbite or even nip (at least i dont think), and it was definately a learning experience.

Toss up between washington or jefferson. I have washington attempts with the weather was terrrible and I am pretty cautoius so turned around on lions head or top of boot spur - all times visabilty was less than 30 feet and winds were over 50 - once over 100. - those were tough, but didn't try for summit Didn't even try to go further. But washington in decent conditions is hard, but trail conditions usaully well packed, etc.. saftey in numbers, etc... that being said. - just this past weekend I tried jefferson in perfect weather and turned back right below the jefferson loop due to time. (we took lowes to t-junction-gulfside). I would have to say this was harder then washington would be with same conditions. The snow was deep, it is a longer, remote & more strenous approach in my opinion. I thought the snowfeilds were steeper. Pound for Pound I think jefferson is toughest to get in winter for the pressies. IMHO. I would be curoius to hear other views. Jefferson is quickly becoming my. nemesis!!


1- jefferson
2 - washington
3- adams - done it many times now now, but it took a good few tries in the beginning
4-Madison
5- Lafeyette - one time in a whiteout bewtween lincoln, this got pretty hairy and it snuck up on us and I voweed never to be in that situation again. I knew that mountain very well and low visabilty it' was tough - it was a scare becuase one of the person with us was moving very slow.

1) Jefferson (but not the day we reached the summit)
2) Adams (but not the day we reached the summit)
3) Bonds (but not the day we reached the summits)

Hmmm, I'm detecting a trend here...
Street and Nye were pretty tough at last winter's Gathering. I stopped to regear at the fork and within 5 minutes realized that I had no feeling in either hand when I tried to zip up my jacket. -25F on my thermometer and stronger hikers than I had already turned back.

I have been VERY lucky with successful winter summits for some of the "BIG" ones like Adams, Jefferson, Washington, Lincoln and Lafayette, etc but since I have 31 more to go during official winter I am sure there will be some that become the "most difficult" . . . The one that could've really gone wrong but didn't would be Jefferson last March but luck was on our side that day and I am thankful for that.

sli74

For me it is without question, climbing Sawteeth last February up the scenic trail. The trail hadn’t been hiked since the snow fell on the ground so my partner and I were breaking trail the entire way with snow up to our chests in some places up a very steep trail. Every three steps we took forward we would slide 2 back, it was like going the wrong way up an escalator. It took us over 8 hours to go 1 mile. Had it been 10 degrees colder, I probably would be here typing this. I never plan to climb that mountain again in winter conditions.

Dec 5,2003,we made the north summit of Hancock at dusk.
Wind blowing 40+,snowing,and its 8 degrees. Setting up tents was a real challenge. Cooking was even more fun,and the gourmet meal planned got a serious shortcut.
But,the real fun began when we woke up to 30" of snow that wasn't supposed to happen. 4.5 miles of trail to break for the nine of us.Snowshoes? None!
Lesson learned...when the little voice says No...don't go! LISTEN!

Giant

It was my toughest. And my first High Peak, and winter HP. I had Nike day hikers, a cotton UAlbany Alumni sweatshirt, jeans and a ball cap. I was using my Dad's external frame Boy Scout issue pack with a 200 lb down and canvas jacket and 2 bottles of Gatoraid. I also had no idea what i was getting into.

Successful summit though! Needless to say we didn't linger on top. 2 guys with full Gore-Tex suits, ice axes and all the gear were up there and thought we were crazy, stupid and incredibly lucky. Which of course we were. We were camping at the base of Roaring Brook falls that nite. I am not sure i ever warmed up.

Emmons, in January, path unbroken for several months (canister era). Pretty looooong dayhike from the car, in deep snow, on a near-impossible-to-follow herpath. Fortunately, we had a "weapon of mass completion": Pinpin (with Alain). Man, this rabbit was able to recognize rocks and trees! Without Alain and Pinpin, maybe we would have reached Donaldson (a few hours later), but not Emmons.

For me it was Old Speck (twice). The first time we had snowshoes and were breaking trail, crawling over and under trees. We ran out of time about 1/2 mile from the summit. The second time I made the summit, my nephew quit about 1/4 mile away. The third time, (yes I went back again) I quit about 1/4 mile from the summit, my partner who needed it for his 67 crawled to the summit. I won't be going back in Winter.

Hands down, for me it was Seward. In summer it takes about 3 hours from the Blueberry leanto to summit. It took us 7 hours of breaking trail and struggling out of countless spruce traps. Then the next day you get to walkout on that wonderful extra 3 miles of road as a bonus. From Hough, a very strong partner and I took 8 hours of breaking and skirting blowdown to reach just the ridge line to Dix which was just little over a mile in distance.

Isolation, Mar 19, '99. Breaking trail. Losing the trail. A howling storm above Engine Hill. Winds were coming at us from multiple directions. Not sure how hard it was snowing because of the winds whipping up the ground snow. Somewhere near the Davis Path my partner fell into a spruce trap that was over his head. He was yelling for me but I could not find him despite unknowingly nearly stepping on his head. He had to climb the tree in snowshoes to get himself out. On the way out our footprints of just an hour earlier in two feet of snow were totally obliterated. It was eerie, as if we had never been there.

Zealand, Mar 11, '01. We lost the trail above Zeacliff in deteriorating conditions. Multiple hikers had created numerous rabbit tracks of trails in that area, themselves having lost the trail earlier. With over six feet of snow that year, blazes were well beneath the surface.

In both cases we did not make the summit. We had set strict turn around times and adhered to them, even though on Isolation we figured we were less than a quarter mile from the summit. We were back to the car in both cases before sundown.

My most difficult successful ascent was on Mt Adams, again in March of '99. We left Gray Knob with temps below -10F and once out of the scrub on Lowe's Path, winds in excess of 60mph but steady. Crystal clear day but very dicey weather conditions. Three of us agreed that if one of us wanted to head back we would all head back. The wind noise at T-Storm Jct was like a freight train. There was no attempt to stand on the summit. Walking back down Lowe's into the wind was a very sobering experience in humility. The raw power was overwhelming.

JohnL

I would also have to say, "the Sewards." With the extra three miles on that Corey's Road along with two feet of snow to break through, makes this one heck of a hard hike in the Winter. Redfield, no piece of cake either.

If tough means most time consuming, then Hamlin for me (yes, I know that some have climbed Hamlin in a day from Abol, but not I, who needed a three-day trip to Chimney Pond).