Lawn Sale
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On Sunday Ian, Seth, and one of their friends Josh decided to accompany me to knock out Mt Willey. I was going to hit Willey and then bag both the Wildcats, but they wanted to start off light as they don’t do a lot of hiking. Seth and Ian both did Tom and Field with me last year and had a blast, so they wanted to complete the range. Ian also bagged Hale with me and Hikerbob before Christmas this year, so this was his 4th mountain on the NH48 list, and all of them in winter so far.
We got a late start due to one person being late showing up to my house, and one person backed out, so we decided to take my car, which is a “White Mountain special”, due to it getting around 50 mpg. We just barely fit with all our gear and changes of clothes, so off we headed at 7:30AM. We arrived at Pinkham, changed clothes, checked the updated weather report, then headed to the Willey House Station trailhead off route 302. We geared up at 10°F and light winds, which immediately set a chill in place, but with this crew, it was guaranteed to be a great time no matter what the weather.
We started up the trail around 11:30, which was well packed out and firm, and we started shedding layers. This was Josh’s first time on a mountain over 1,385 feet in the winter, but he wasn’t intimidated. He had all the necessary gear as the night before he visited EMS in Disgusta and then topped off with a trip to Mark’s Emporium and Coffee House, which is always open and had all his hiking needs in stock. This was not only his first time in the White’s, but also his first time on Crampons, wearing a hardshell and down jacket, using hiking poles, and having his Nalgene freeze on him.
Seth took the lead right from the trailhead, and he was soon so far ahead we couldn’t see him. He’s a road-racing cyclist, so he’s used to be being out front. I chose to stay back with Ian and Josh, and we stopped many times to adjust clothing for heating and cooling. We got to the trailhead a little later than we’d liked, and as a result his eating regimen was messed up, so his blood sugar was a little low. By the time he straightened it out we hit the steep section, where he really got to test out the new crampons he built for his snowshoes. They are made of stainless steel and have 11 points on them, long and sharp enough to climb vertical ice if he chose to. He does high-end fabrications on Land Rover vehicles and was tired of sliding around last year with the stock aluminum crampons on his Tubbs snowshoes, so he designed and built his own. For those who have never been up that section of trail, it seems like it goes straight up forever. Just when you think you’re at the top, you round a bend only to find more steep sections of trail. We topped out around 2PM to find great views as we donned our heavier coats and more layers. Seth had been there for some time and was chilled, so he wanted to head back down soon. We took some pictures and headed off the summit and out of the wind to eat lunch. It was then we discovered Ian and Seth inadvertently left theirs in the car and my Subway sandwich was frozen solid. It’s a good thing gorp and Cliff bars don’t freeze.
Everyone but Ian donned crampons for the descent, with him opting to ski barebooted down the trail, which was firm enough to not posthole. I helped Josh with his crampons and gave him some instruction on how to hike downhill without killing himself, or wrecking his new boots. We made good time down the mountain, stopping only a few times to add or remove layers and eat a little.
We arrived back at the car around 4:30, changed and stowed our gear, and headed to IME to peruse the wares and deals downstairs. Ian picked up some insoles for his Scarpas so hopefully they won’t cause blisters like the one he got on Hale. The other deals were Ok, but nothing stood out that I couldn’t live without or didn’t have 4 of already. We ate in North Conway and Josh was falling asleep at the table, completely wiped out. Seth was also feeling the effects as he claimed only 2 hours of sleep the night before, but everyone was satisfied with the hike and promised a return trip. The ride back was uneventful, but did require a medium Turbo coffee with an added double shot of espresso to stay awake.
Hiking pics are here
We got a late start due to one person being late showing up to my house, and one person backed out, so we decided to take my car, which is a “White Mountain special”, due to it getting around 50 mpg. We just barely fit with all our gear and changes of clothes, so off we headed at 7:30AM. We arrived at Pinkham, changed clothes, checked the updated weather report, then headed to the Willey House Station trailhead off route 302. We geared up at 10°F and light winds, which immediately set a chill in place, but with this crew, it was guaranteed to be a great time no matter what the weather.
We started up the trail around 11:30, which was well packed out and firm, and we started shedding layers. This was Josh’s first time on a mountain over 1,385 feet in the winter, but he wasn’t intimidated. He had all the necessary gear as the night before he visited EMS in Disgusta and then topped off with a trip to Mark’s Emporium and Coffee House, which is always open and had all his hiking needs in stock. This was not only his first time in the White’s, but also his first time on Crampons, wearing a hardshell and down jacket, using hiking poles, and having his Nalgene freeze on him.
Seth took the lead right from the trailhead, and he was soon so far ahead we couldn’t see him. He’s a road-racing cyclist, so he’s used to be being out front. I chose to stay back with Ian and Josh, and we stopped many times to adjust clothing for heating and cooling. We got to the trailhead a little later than we’d liked, and as a result his eating regimen was messed up, so his blood sugar was a little low. By the time he straightened it out we hit the steep section, where he really got to test out the new crampons he built for his snowshoes. They are made of stainless steel and have 11 points on them, long and sharp enough to climb vertical ice if he chose to. He does high-end fabrications on Land Rover vehicles and was tired of sliding around last year with the stock aluminum crampons on his Tubbs snowshoes, so he designed and built his own. For those who have never been up that section of trail, it seems like it goes straight up forever. Just when you think you’re at the top, you round a bend only to find more steep sections of trail. We topped out around 2PM to find great views as we donned our heavier coats and more layers. Seth had been there for some time and was chilled, so he wanted to head back down soon. We took some pictures and headed off the summit and out of the wind to eat lunch. It was then we discovered Ian and Seth inadvertently left theirs in the car and my Subway sandwich was frozen solid. It’s a good thing gorp and Cliff bars don’t freeze.
Everyone but Ian donned crampons for the descent, with him opting to ski barebooted down the trail, which was firm enough to not posthole. I helped Josh with his crampons and gave him some instruction on how to hike downhill without killing himself, or wrecking his new boots. We made good time down the mountain, stopping only a few times to add or remove layers and eat a little.
We arrived back at the car around 4:30, changed and stowed our gear, and headed to IME to peruse the wares and deals downstairs. Ian picked up some insoles for his Scarpas so hopefully they won’t cause blisters like the one he got on Hale. The other deals were Ok, but nothing stood out that I couldn’t live without or didn’t have 4 of already. We ate in North Conway and Josh was falling asleep at the table, completely wiped out. Seth was also feeling the effects as he claimed only 2 hours of sleep the night before, but everyone was satisfied with the hike and promised a return trip. The ride back was uneventful, but did require a medium Turbo coffee with an added double shot of espresso to stay awake.
Hiking pics are here
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