March 5 - Hancocks & March 6 - Osceola's

Another great weekend of hiking in the Whites. Saturday we tackled the Hancocks, breaking the Hancock Loop trail almost to the top of North Hancock before Dr Wu, Donna, and two others joined us. The new snow was a good 2 feet deep. The descent down South Hancock was tough with the deep snow.

Sunday we were joined by 6 others from VFTT and had one of the most fun hikes we have ever done as we summited both Osceola peaks. The snow held off until we started our descent. Most of us butt slid down the steep sections, with some of us sliding down the chimney section.

Trip report and pics from both days are on or web page:
Our Recent Hikes

Osceola's 3/6 with "The Motley Crew"

am: Greely Ponds Trailhead.

Sherpette and I made our dramatic entrance into the trailhead parking where the rest of our Motley Crue was awaiting our arrival. We were supposed to start at 8am but... well.. ya know.. sleep is a good thing.

Gathered this wonderful morning were Bob and Geri, George Fitch, mark, Dinette and Dugan, Cant Dog and yours truly.

At 8:20 am we were finally on our way. Right off the bat the trail was a hard pack from previous snowshoers AND cross country skiers who had traveled into the Greely Ponds Area. At 1.3 Miles we reached the Junction with Greely and Mt. Osceola Trail. We then began our ascent of East Osceola.

The trail was still well packed but very steep. We all ended up trading in our snowshoes for crampons just below the slide. We continued our way up the East peak to a fine outlook. Bob was equipped with his super cam again as his finger snapped away all day. Classics shall appear I promise!

Snow was VERY DEEP throughout, many times our feet passed trail markers on trees supposedly 5 feet up the tree. Today they were all of 2" up the tree.

We moved on from East peak to Big Ole Osceola. At the summit we all munched on our goodies fresh made from home. I pulled out the secret weapon of any trip.. THE HAT! This week, My King A-Hole Crown and a Rope. Oh yeah.. I was hip!

We quickly left the summit of Osceola as a wonderful snowsquall moved in complete with skin piercing snow crystals and 35 MPH Gusts. We trudged back to East Osceola Running into Donna and her friend Mike along the way.

When we got to the Wonderful Chimney... (Flashback.. on the way over to Osceola, the women and Dugan went around the chimney as the men when up.. Flashback)... Bob went down the Chimney and I soon followed. Bob enticed me down with his Camera in hand. Going Down the Chimney I went airborne eventually landing in a bunch of downed spruce trees. Mark carefully came down the chimney and everyone else.. wisely.. went around.

From the outlook of East Osceola back down to the Greely Ponds Junct. it was an all out assualt on the forest. We glissaded 90% of the way down the mountain. We all laughed like children and had the times of our lives. Never had that much fun before. My favorite part of the day was hearing George Fitch laugh and smile like a child. It was awesome. Fitch even mentioned the snow "up his butt." In fact.. he had more than snow up his butt when he went flying into Bob... who was allready laid out in the woods!. lol

We all made it back safely, some of us went to Lincoln Woods where we changed. I met a man in the bathroom who had finished his 48 All seaon list on owls Head today.. gave him a DVD to congradulate him. He was VERY pleased. We then made our way to Woodstock Station for some grub.

All in all, the best trip I've ever had. This "Motely Crew" of senial (some of us anyway) hikers are quite the group. Again, I would hike again with these people anyday. What a wonderful day and a great time had by all.

Add your comments group! And Bob.. lets see those pics!

SJ

Yes George.. I AM A LUNATIC! How bout them Hiccups!

Oh, I feel bad anough with these huge blisters on my heels, now I find out I missed the best hike ever?!
Oh well, my fault for getting blisters. Glad it was fun, and I will NOT miss the next one.

My First VFTT Trip - A Regal Event

This was my first VFTT trip. It was literally a regal event, what with "The Crowned One" and his merry band of jesters providing lots of entertainment. I have never laughed so much on a hike. I thought SJ was acting half his age, then I realized that meant Bob and I were acting less than one quarter our age.



I've slid down very small sections of trail before but I have never had such long high speed runs as we encountered on these peaks. With banked turns it really was a regular bobsled run.



The good times continued at the Woodstock Inn Brew Pub. At one point the waitress grabbed a wooden pizza paddle and was going to spank "The King" with it. He smiled and said, "be sure and use both hands". She had second thoughts when she realized he was going to enjoy it.



What a fun bunch. Thanks to all for an incredible experience.



George

Wish I was at Osceola! I could have brought the Swiss Bobsled for the way down. I'm going to use that thing -- year round.

Did Robohiker show up??

-Dr. Wu

Dr Wu - Robohiker was not present. The sliding on Sun was much better than Sat. Only went into the woods twice!

George - it was great to meet you and realize how much we have in common besides hiking.

What a Day!

I had a blast on this hike! We had a great group for the trip. Even the weather held out for us long enough to get some views from the Osceola summit. The trail conditions were great for winter. Even climbing up the chimney was fun. Sliding down it was, well, interesting - but it had to be done. Note to others: when you are the last one down, all of the ice flows will have been polished clean by everyone who went before you!

I have never seen so many good pitches for butt sliding! We barely stood up on the way down from East Osceola! Our ascent from the Greeley Ponds trail took about 2 hours. Our descent of the same section took about an hour! It was very exciting spotting someone sliding down the trail behind you before you had time to get up on the run out. (My wife is trying to figure out how I got a cleat mark on my elbow!) What a scream!

Thanks to Bob for being the trip photographer! He was always right there to help you out after you just did a face plant by capturing your indignity on film (uh, on silicon). Dugan was a good doggie making sure there were not any trails snacks accidentally left anywhere on the summit!

This was one of the best hikes I have ever done!

Hiking in snow with fun companions, great food shared during and afterwards - what more could you ask for? Perhaps a chaffeur for the drive home...

The trail was broken out and for the most part, well packed. We did a little post holing between the two summits, but with the passage of our group it was noticeably better packed on the return trip.

We met fellow VFTT'er Donna hiking with her friend Mike. Donna generously shared some delicious sweets that Mike's wife (MountainMama) made with our group. We later ran into another VFTT'er, MarshallM, skiing through the Greeley Ponds intersection.

Thanks to everyone for their dog advice last week. Dugan used the go 'round at the chimney and had no problems at all despite the steepness. Being a dog, he's not really built for butt sliding, but with Bob & John's encouragement (bad influence?!) he figured out a belly glissade on a few of the steeper sections.

Nope, we saw no signs of Robohiker. Perhaps the quarter ran out?