sli74
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2003
- Messages
- 1,815
- Reaction score
- 243
Well, this trip began as every other trip with a flurry of emails to figure out if I would have company on my hikes or if I would be going solo. After many changes in plans, I finally decided on Pierce and Eisenhower via the Crawford Path for the first hike of the year and as usual my 6:30am proposed start time did not make anybody happy. Cantdog said she would join me and Dave Metsky said he might show up for the hike and see me on the trail. So I woke up at 5:00am, and tried to wake cantdog but didn’t succeed. However MichaelJ was awake, decided against skiing for the day and said he’d meet me on the trail a little later. I assumed cantdog would get a bit more sleep and join Michael for the drive over. So, I packed the car and drove the 55 minutes to the trailhead. I got there just about 6:20am and cantdog had expressed an interest in possibly hiking Monroe if either the Base Road or Mount Clinton Road were plowed. When I arrived at the Crawford Path parking area I noticed that the gate to Mt. Clinton Road was open and the road looked covered with a thin layer of snow but drivable. I drove down the road about a ¼ mile and decided that we could in fact hike the Edmands path to the Crawford Path getting both Eisenhower and Monroe without the road walk. So I sat and waited for them to arrive. Finally at 7:15, I decided to push on with my original plans since no one had shown up at the trailhead. Just as I was locking up the car, MichaelJ pulled in and said cantdog was still asleep and so I started up the Crawford Path knowing he would catch up to me soon enough. I stopped to take pictures at the bridge near the Crawford Connector and again to take pictures at Gibbs Falls. It was a great day to be out in the woods and the trail was packed enough to bareboot. About a mile into the trip, Michael caught up to me and we chatted and hiked on. We stayed on the Crawford Path hiking past Mitzpah Cutoff and stupidly waited till we were above treeline in the 30 mph winds on a sheet of ice to put on our crampons, ugh . . . In any case with the crampons safely on, we made our way up to the summit of Pierce. We were just about done with eating and picture taking when a group of 3 young boys arrived at the summit. They were heading back down the Crawford Path and we bid them goodbye as we decided to try the traverse of the ridge to Eisenhower. Back at the Crawford Path junction, we ran into Trevor who was hiking solo and headed for Eisenhower as well. He asked us if he could tag along with us and we said “Sure” . . . So the 3 of us started out across the ridge in low visibility and very strong winds. My weather man had lied to me again, where were my clear skies? After a few rough moments when the wind gusts almost knocked me off my feet, we arrived at the junction for the trail up to the Eisenhower summit. Trevor had gone on ahead a little before this, saying he will see on the way down. We ran into him about 5 cairn before the summit as he came out of the clouds and fog. At the summit, visibility was VERY bad, the temps VERY cold and the winds VERY strong, so we stayed only a few minutes to click a few pictures and head back down. On the way back we ran into a woman headed up by herself, we told her of the conditions and figured she would’ve been at the summit in about 20 minutes given our pace (She was hiking MUCH faster). The rest of the trip down was uneventful and when we saw the solo woman again, she told us that unfortunately she came to the short steep section JUST below the summit and turned around because the conditions made her a little nervous. It is too bad that she wasn’t just 20-30 minutes ahead of schedule because she could’ve headed up with us. But given the VERY POOR visibility, it was a wise decision on her part; this was her 2nd attempt of Eisenhower in winter. We told her about VFTT and the AMC BB before she flew down the trail. Michael and I made it back to our cars just before headlamps would’ve become necessary. Michael went back to Liza’s and I headed to Hiker’s Paradise for the night. I stopped at Pinkham Notch to find out weather and wind forecasts for the next day on Washington as I was to meet Mongoose (from the AMC BB) at 5:00am for an attempt of Mt. Washington. January 1st, 2004 was a success for MichaelJ and me as we each bagged 2 winter 4Ks and tested our ability and gear. It was a fun trip even though there were no views. I will post 2 summit pictures here.
sli74
sli74
