I just got back late last night from the coldest, wettest most miserable night I have ever spent in the woods.
I hadn't been to the Bonds in quite some time. I had a nice three day weekend ahead of me so off I went. Saturday I camped out down low off the Wilderness Tr. and enjoyed a nice spring night out in the Pemi.
Sunday morning was mostly cloudy but temps were in the 50s and I spent the entire morning in shorts as I climbed up to Bondcliff. The sun was in and out and the was no breeze to speak of. Around 1:00 I arrived at that little rock face that signals the treeline is right above you. I looked up to see overcast skies but other than putting pants on, I went on up to the ridge.
I was enjoying the wide views in all directions as I slowly made my way over Bondcliff. I turned south to look at Carrigain crystal clear and I could make out the tower atop.
At 1:20 I felt a rain drop. I turned and noticed that West Bond was gone. G-O-N-E. Like it never existed.
Thats OK I thought, its still warm enough and I have raingear, so on to Bond I went. By the time I reached the top of Bond visibility was zero, the wind was pounding the sleet into me with such force that it hurt.
I spent exaclty 7 seconds on top of Bond.
The next half hour or so as I climbed down to Guyot, I started to question my decision to press on. Cetainly a fast moving system like this could not keep this pace up for long. Right?
On the shoulder of Bond earlier I had thought about just sitting for a few minutes in the scrub to avoid the pelting sleet and hale. The wind was quite strong, I was navigating cairn to cairn and it seemed ridiculous to be climbing up into it. Its easy to see how someone could lose their life in such conditions.
I made it to Guyot about 3:30 to find the shelter full. I mean full full. So I set up shop on one of the platforms in the driving rain. I still at this time really felt that it couldn't possibly keep up this pace.
I got all my wet stuff off and crawled into my sleeping bag to wait it out. At about 7 there was a lull in the wind and I looked out to see wet snow coming down in heaps. C'mon!
I drifted off from like 11-12. I awoke to violent winds shaking my tent and went to push the fly away from my side when I realized that it wouldn't budge. I got my headlamp out and I knew what I was going to see before I saw it; 6-8 inches of heavy wet snow and more coming down at a sharp angle.
My poor three season solo tent had no chance in this stuff. It was collapsing on top of me. I had to brush the snow off every hour or so until first light finally came. The floor was completely soaked even with the ground cloth and a small sleeping pad. Condensation had soaked my 20 deg bag as well. I was cold,wet and I felt the shivers over and over.
I played games with myself all night to keep from sleeping. 50 capitals, Last 30 champs in every pro sport, which famous person would I like to spend a night like this with.....what is the sound of one tent flapping?
I was not really excited about continuing with my original plan of going over to the Twins in the morning. (I had already bailed on my plan on West Bond as it had been taken away from the landscape the day before).
Luckily, I had my stove packed away with me and boy did that prove to be a good idea. I just wanted to have some oatmeal and coffee in the morning but it ended up drying out my gloves, thawing out my nalgenes and not to mention my hands.....
After a long and windy walk across the ridge back to treeline, I was finally able to comfortably reflect on my night.
I had checked trail conditions and weather reports for a week up until leaving Saturday morning. I was anticipating some rain and the possibility of a dusting of snow.... I have never had the weather change so dramatically, so quickly. It was intense.
