Adams 12/9 and Jefferson 12/10

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giggy

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Hikin' the scree on Shasta....
Sometimes you just have to compromise your plans due to mother nature, but you have a great time anyway.

Picked up Jay H at machester airport via the guy taxi - (covering for the sherpa taxi)

Myself, Mtn Goat, Jay H, Jaytrek57, Scott, and Blacklab20 set out to do a pressie traverse over 2 days and one night. This was planned for about 2 months but With the costal storm coming in on friday - we made the obvious call to do a back up plan and stay at grey knob and see what we could do there in less than ideal weather conditions. Basically, on thurs night, it wasn't certain if whites were going to get this storm or not - a small shift 50 miles and it would have been ugly up high. (and would have been blind to the weather with our planned 4am start - So ..... off to grey knob we went to see if we could actually summit something in this. Mtn Goat and Blacklab were dying to see about this "pressie weather" they often heard about - well - they weren't let down!

We headed up lowes path friday morning and it was already snowing at about 7am. Trail was a little icy - but not a big deal - We could hear the wind screaming up above and when we crested at the Quay, I think each one of us was blown down at least once from the Quay to the entry into the scrub. (about 15 feet!).

The plan was to drop gear and attempt Adams. The summits weather report at Grey knob was 60-80 mph winds and snow - getting worse thru the day and then was supposed to improve overnight. Ok - we'll we have to try anyway - so off we went up lowes path - at this point I was thinking if we got to Adams 4, that would be great - I didn't think we would as snow was
horizontal :eek: , winds were high :eek: and visability wasn't that great :eek: . - but we could see the next cairn. :) The trek up Adams 4 was tough and slow - every other step we were getting knocked off balance and it seemed every 5th step, knocked down :confused: :confused: . Scott decided he had enough and turned back. I would guess it was sustained at 60mph with guts over 70mph - Once atop Adams 4 the wind was a bit less due to shelter. It got high briefly again as we went down adams 4 and then Sam Adams blocked it all the way to Thunderstorm Junction (it was probably down to like 30mph - but that felt liked nothing after what we just went thru.) We went up tagged the summit and then came down as visablity was gettiung worse.

We decided to head back via the spur trail and broke that to crag camp. We ecnountered some deep drifts along the way. Miles wise - not alot - but this day the ole lowes path/spur loop wasn't that easy!! We got back to grey knob, ate some food, and before we knew it the friday night crowds was coming in and the wood stove was fired up and everyone was damn happy to be there. The caretaker LOVES (and I mean loves) sherpakroto and shizzmac.

The plan was to still consider hiking out to 302 on sat if the weather was good. I got up about 4am to deal with all the fluids I drank ealier and it was still all socked in - ok back to bed and back-up plan # 2 - lets see what the weather is for today - ok - it was 50-70 mph winds, visability 50 feet, and clearing late. Ok - after getting a bit down in the dumps before my coffee - - we decided to try Jefferson - we left about 9am and busted out the grey knob trail and randolph path (alternating leads) (averaging a foot deep powder) and the weather wasn't that bad - winds weren't all that bad and visability was better than 50 feet - we could see into the valley every now and then - but up higher - still socked in.

As we got higher, it became more rocky and we got moving a bit quicker. At Edmunds Col, the wind wasn't bad at all, but visability was poor at about 50 feet. We got up the gulfside crossed the slide/gully - which looked and felt pretty stable. We were a little concerned with it avalaching, (those that have crossed this in winter know what I am talking about) but a quick check and it looked to be pretty well consolidated and stable, so off we went one at a time just in case. with the new snow - better safe than sorry.

We reached the jefferson loop, and got a bit higher and visability dropped even more and we couldn't see anything, things looked like cairns, but they weren't, etc.... - we went around a bit to try and find the route up, but we had no luck - I knew the general direction to go, but was concerned about getting down if it got even worse and the wind kicked up blowing snow - so at about 300 feet below the summit - the 4 of us all agreed it was time to head down and call it a day - it was the right call at the time.

Of course about halfway down the grey knob trail - the entire mountain breaks free of the clouds and the sun is blarring. But - who was to know? - By now - we were ready for a burger and a beer, so we grabbed our gear said goodbye to the folks at grey knob and headed down lowes. Nice and packed by now -

It was agood trip even tho we got one pressie - not the entire range which was the plan :confused: :confused: but hey...-

we ended the day and had some food and drink at the woodstock and a hearty breakfest this am - then I dropped Jay H back at the airport - until next time!!

All in all it was fun meeting MTN Goat and Blacklab20 - they are great guys with good heads in the mountains. And was fun seeing the 2 Jays again (Jay H and Jaytrek) - great hiking with Jay H again - and with Jaytrek for the first time.

all fun people to hike with and Jaytrek's got the great sense of humor to keep the spirits up in the low times!

and any night at grey knob is a good night!

I said I would write this up - the others will probably chime in as well - Jay H, Blacklab and Mtn Goat should have some good pix to share - think Mtn goat has a movie from the Adams day.
 
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Giggy et al: darn nice weekend in the hills you had there. You got much of what you wanted, made decisions, and came home with smiles. Sweet time!

Those who have met Chris (Grey Knob caretaker) know what a great guy he is. You always feel at home at GK! I can't wait to get back up there.
 
Typical Whites

Sounds like a great time Guy. Good decisions and good company always lead to good times! Sorry I missed out. I should have figured the weather wouldn't cooperate. I could have hung out in Grey Knob and offered words of encouragement (as if I'd stay behind!) :D Are you going to try again this winter? I would still like to do a winter traverse. If not a traverse then two or three days of day hikes to hit them all!
 
Had a great time up there, Guy and everyone else. We will certainly have to hit up the range again later in the season.

Here is the link to the pictures I have from Jefferson (the second day).

If the pictures didnt work before try them again here:
http://community.webshots.com/album/521704859TvwZUK

~Justin
 
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Guy--

Great Job! I mean it man...your leadership, looking out for everyone and constant postive energy were quite impressive.

Jay H., Scott, Justin, Dave and Guy are truly great people and did I mention STRONG hikers...I am now in the process of readjusting my "SherpaK" hiking meter. ;)

Again...just a fantastic way to spend two great days in the Whites with fantastic people.

Peace.

Jaytrek57
 
Thanks Guy and guys :)

I should have my photos from Adams and the trek to Jefferson online tonight.

I enjoyed the 60mph gusts and the drunkard walk. It was fun and as I wrote in the GK logbook, I am now like 0 for 12 for views from NH summits!

Anyway, Gig and I are discussing a Franconia Ridge traverse in late winter. We'll announce something sooner or later. I've love to go do Lafayette and Lincoln as I've never done those but they have been on the radar for a while now.

Going to check out Blacklab's pictures...

Jay
 
Very impressive that you guys gave it a shot, even more impressive that you were smart AND managed to bag anything at all on Friday in those conditions :eek: Sounds like you had a load of fun too, despite challenging conditions. Hats off to all of you :).
Sorry I didn't get to make it to the Woodstock Inn Sunday evening after all, Guy ...... the Bonds were keeping me pretty busy at the time!!! :D
 
Nice trip report. You at least made it to the ridge. BTW, who was the caretaker at Gray Knob?
 
Views!

Jay H said:
Thanks Guy and guys :)

I enjoyed the 60mph gusts and the drunkard walk. It was fun and as I wrote in the GK logbook, I am now like 0 for 12 for views from NH summits!

Jay


I have lucked out over the years with views in NH, especially from Mt Washington! I only remember two times, with no views from there! Of course, I had more leeway in picking my days, but Washington's summit can be socked in when it's clear everywhere else!

Glad to hear everyone survived and even managed to have a good time!

Fred
 
Chris was the caretaker at GK. I never got his last name but he is there til March on a week on/week off basis. He mentioned on the off-weeks, he is a snowmaker at Wildcat... He certainly knew of SherpaK and Shizzmac! I think he wants Shawn to go there everyweekend, from my impression. :D

We were very close to Jefferson before we turned and we did a nice job of breaking the grey knob trail for a pair of French-Canadians after us! I'm sure they had a much easier time and probably made the summit. :)

Jay
 
yea - If we started and 45 minutes to an hour later - we would have been good to go on jeff - but the report wasn't calling for the weather to break until later in the day - oh well. As I sit here now, kicking myself for not going up :( - but in reality, I know it was the right call at the time :) . My best guess the canadians got to about where we stopped when the weather broke and then had a clear view of the top. :D :D

jefferson has always been my nemesis in winter- the only 5000k I haven't done in winter - this wasn't "winter" - but just for perpective. I think it is the toughest one to do in winter as far as pressies go.
 
I was wondering how you guys were making out...Kmac and I were on the Wildcats on Saturday and we kept gazing towards the Presis wondering where you all might be...did you see us waving?? It was amazing though how the clouds all dissapatied in the afternoon. Sounds as though you made some good decisions along with having a lot of fun! :)

-MEB
 
Thanks to all for a great trip and for a great introduction into winter in the whites (I know it's not official winter but it's close enough for me). After alot of speedy hiking this summer, I forgot how much slower winter hiking is (especially when you're breaking through waist deep snow drifts :eek: )! Here's some of my pics. I put a few of BlackLab2020's in there due to the fact that I only took 5 or 6 pictures over the 2 days. I have a short video taken when the winds were in that 40-70mph range Friday but have to figure out where and how to get it on the web first.

As for the hike I'm glad we encountered bad weather because with this being my first winter out (now counting snowshoeing dayhikes over the last 5 years) I'd rather learn the lessons of when to turn back and experiencing some pretty bad weather. Luckily it wasn't all that cold. Even with the winds knocking me over at every other step I still was quite warm. I'll always remember the trip and the thoughts running through my head (something along the lines of what am I doing up here) as I held onto a cairn then proceeded to almost get blown around it :eek: !
 
Hey Giggy...nice trip report.
Can't wait to get up there again. It's been too long for me and
Mtnpa. Hope to be up there soon.
Let us know when we can meet at Stone's for a brew.
 
Sweet trip report and pictures! Sounds like quite the adventure. I agree with the good decision making.
 
vow, good job!!!!

Mt. Jefferson is always the "trouble-maker" mountain for me.

I had 4 attempts, only 2 succeeds. all failures were the results of bad weather.
 
That sounds like an insane trip guys and reminds me of my trip up Adams 5 years ago in July. The wind was so strong that I held my glasses onto my face. I wore pretty well full winter garb on top. No views at all of course and the cairns were barely visible. That quartz is great! Getting back to Grey Knob was pretty nice too.
 
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