Dave Bear
New member
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2007
- Messages
- 681
- Reaction score
- 168
Headed North Saturday hoping my Brother-in-law & sister-in-law would be enticed by the beautiful sunshine and join me on hiking the Tripyramids. Late start and leisurely pace with no takers for an overnight backpack but I did sense some jealousy. By late morning it was already getting near perfect. Found two vehicles parked in the sweep for Pine Bend and figured I'd go by way of Sabbaday considering Rolly and company had come down off last weekend. The ice bridges were a little tender but I had my weight spread between my pack and sled. I had delayed the trip in til things had cooled down and planned to camp at about the fourth crossing. Very quiet hike into early evening except for my new MSR snowshoes. The Tubbs had cracked through eight inches of the rear plastic by the binding coming off Liberty and I didn't notice til Thursday. I had a three day weekend because of a birthday holiday with the weather gods saying Hike! So it was Happy Birthday to Me! Trip to EMS and some new traction! 
I never thought I would consider hiking with a Walkman but the crunching sure made me think about it! Camped just below the fifth crossing and had a nice steak dinner in the moonlight. Looked to the stars and didn't see any space junk coming down to make a wish on so I hit the sack for an early start. During the night the temps dropped enough to partially freeze my water in insulated containers so I wasn't keeping the REI 3-man warm enough alone. After a quick porridge breakfast I set out to see what the next three crossing would be like. Fifth was very tender near the East bank, sixth was a big ugly step breaking away and seventh was a balance beam act on a bowwed yellow birch! Beautiful hike up through the valley of open hardwoods and some views of Fool Killer slide and back to Passaconaway. When I got to the ridge climb it was time that the new MSR EVO Ascents won a place in my heart! Virtually no back sliding on three inches of powder on a very packed and icy base! Actually started to enjoy the crunching as they ate up those pitches. Kept them on for both summits and switched to crampons just for the drop back into the valley. Enjoyed the company of two other solo hikers up top, Ed from VT who had come up behind me and Gary who came in over Pine Bend. Perfect on top and had a nice hot lunch on the stove on top of Middle Tripyramids peaked little summit. Easy day to get a bit of a sun tan! Views went forever! Last one off the mountain so I took my time down and packed out my temporary cave. Coming into the fourth crossing it look as though it had a bit more sag even though it was thick. Headed down in briskly and crack! Away it went! Luckily the weight of the sled coming down the banking and the poles to my harness jetisoned me up onto the other bank! I clawed up the bank quickly and turned to watch the bridge disappearing into the brook like a glacier giving in to the surf! It was about eighteen inches thick but still weak enough to break up. Though still a warm part of the day it would have been a long wet slog out. Luck was on my side ( make a mental note - damn @#$%^sled saved my butt this day!) The remaining snow bridges had been turned to Swiss cheese with some postholing but held up for the trek out. #34 & #35 4K's for me and first two at 47 years old. Had decided to start hiking them in July '06 and finish by the time I'm 48. Looks like the journey wasn't nearly as tough as it seemed and the path has been one of beauty and adrenalin rushes around each corner!
PS- Sorry 'bout he bridge collapse, didn't have time to look at possible alternates nearby.
I never thought I would consider hiking with a Walkman but the crunching sure made me think about it! Camped just below the fifth crossing and had a nice steak dinner in the moonlight. Looked to the stars and didn't see any space junk coming down to make a wish on so I hit the sack for an early start. During the night the temps dropped enough to partially freeze my water in insulated containers so I wasn't keeping the REI 3-man warm enough alone. After a quick porridge breakfast I set out to see what the next three crossing would be like. Fifth was very tender near the East bank, sixth was a big ugly step breaking away and seventh was a balance beam act on a bowwed yellow birch! Beautiful hike up through the valley of open hardwoods and some views of Fool Killer slide and back to Passaconaway. When I got to the ridge climb it was time that the new MSR EVO Ascents won a place in my heart! Virtually no back sliding on three inches of powder on a very packed and icy base! Actually started to enjoy the crunching as they ate up those pitches. Kept them on for both summits and switched to crampons just for the drop back into the valley. Enjoyed the company of two other solo hikers up top, Ed from VT who had come up behind me and Gary who came in over Pine Bend. Perfect on top and had a nice hot lunch on the stove on top of Middle Tripyramids peaked little summit. Easy day to get a bit of a sun tan! Views went forever! Last one off the mountain so I took my time down and packed out my temporary cave. Coming into the fourth crossing it look as though it had a bit more sag even though it was thick. Headed down in briskly and crack! Away it went! Luckily the weight of the sled coming down the banking and the poles to my harness jetisoned me up onto the other bank! I clawed up the bank quickly and turned to watch the bridge disappearing into the brook like a glacier giving in to the surf! It was about eighteen inches thick but still weak enough to break up. Though still a warm part of the day it would have been a long wet slog out. Luck was on my side ( make a mental note - damn @#$%^sled saved my butt this day!) The remaining snow bridges had been turned to Swiss cheese with some postholing but held up for the trek out. #34 & #35 4K's for me and first two at 47 years old. Had decided to start hiking them in July '06 and finish by the time I'm 48. Looks like the journey wasn't nearly as tough as it seemed and the path has been one of beauty and adrenalin rushes around each corner! PS- Sorry 'bout he bridge collapse, didn't have time to look at possible alternates nearby.
