peak_bgr
New member
Well it's about time I got to Street in winter. Turned back one year unpreparred for -25 degree temps. Then turned back early this winter at Indian Pass Brook due to very high water, and having forgotten my Red Bull I couldn't get accross.
This time the weather was perfect and I knew the brook was frozen from previous climbs and trip reports. Brian and I were also introducing a couple people to this range for their first time.
We started off pushing through about 3 inches of fresh powder, which would only get deeper as we climbed, but no more than 5 inches, maybe 6 in spots. Indian Pass Brook was frozen, there was one small ice bridge in the middle that made me a little nervous-and ofcourse who's in front, me. Testing the waters so too speak. The broken trail on the other side didn't go up on the hill as it does in off winter seasons but stayed low over the swamp area to return to the hill in about 150 feet.
Testing the waters again I was on the next stream crossing, where most people walk on the fallen log, we satyed below in hopes than the tide wouldn't come in. It did, my one foot fell through about 8 inches on water and ice, but I stayed dry. Didn't help that now a huge snow ball was forming around my foot-but I kicked that off a few times and we were golden.
Now the tricky part. At the beaver flow it was a little hard to see where the route went. There was one path that we followed that led back to where we were. The other crossed the flow on a very hairy and deep section, but ended about 75 feet over the other side. The route right now actually walks along the flow, and over the beaver dam to reconnect with the path on the other side. It looks as though the actual herd path is on the right of the flow. But the ice was plenty thick enough for even me. Brian was nice enough to go first-like that was going to prove anything. Hell, the guy walks on water.
The rest of the journey was pretty uneventfull, easy trail to follow, especially after we got passed by three others. Nice!! They cleared the trees for us. Thanks guys.
The tough part was along the ridge after the big rock. There was a fair amount of blowdown, which with a big pack makes for a pain in the a.. to crawl under. Again and again. From the intersection to Nye was more of the same, trees to go under around, over. Then as a kick in the face you can see the summit sign but there's a tree fallen over accoss the pathjust below. So, literally we almost had to crawl to the summit on our knees. I felt like I was praying to the Nye gods to put me out of my misery. It got very cold fast, we tried to snack and drink, but the wind chill was roughly -20 degrees with a steady 10 mph wind-even in the trees. Ok, maybe -10, but who's counting?
The trip back to the intersection proved to be very fast, just to warm back up. From here to Street was very fast, except for 8-10 more trees to fight with. But these draped a little higher, so all I had to do was limbo a little, not actually do a stomach crawl.
The summit was very socked in at this point, and one of my favorite views in the High Peaks wasn't there. But the snow was amazing, a ton of it. Fresh powder on a nice crust-the glissading agian was amazing. Down to the intersection in 20 minutes, out to the car in just over 2 hours from the summit of Street.
Killer day, great company. It was fun guys. We should do it again soon. Different peaks of course.
This time the weather was perfect and I knew the brook was frozen from previous climbs and trip reports. Brian and I were also introducing a couple people to this range for their first time.
We started off pushing through about 3 inches of fresh powder, which would only get deeper as we climbed, but no more than 5 inches, maybe 6 in spots. Indian Pass Brook was frozen, there was one small ice bridge in the middle that made me a little nervous-and ofcourse who's in front, me. Testing the waters so too speak. The broken trail on the other side didn't go up on the hill as it does in off winter seasons but stayed low over the swamp area to return to the hill in about 150 feet.
Testing the waters again I was on the next stream crossing, where most people walk on the fallen log, we satyed below in hopes than the tide wouldn't come in. It did, my one foot fell through about 8 inches on water and ice, but I stayed dry. Didn't help that now a huge snow ball was forming around my foot-but I kicked that off a few times and we were golden.
Now the tricky part. At the beaver flow it was a little hard to see where the route went. There was one path that we followed that led back to where we were. The other crossed the flow on a very hairy and deep section, but ended about 75 feet over the other side. The route right now actually walks along the flow, and over the beaver dam to reconnect with the path on the other side. It looks as though the actual herd path is on the right of the flow. But the ice was plenty thick enough for even me. Brian was nice enough to go first-like that was going to prove anything. Hell, the guy walks on water.
The rest of the journey was pretty uneventfull, easy trail to follow, especially after we got passed by three others. Nice!! They cleared the trees for us. Thanks guys.
The tough part was along the ridge after the big rock. There was a fair amount of blowdown, which with a big pack makes for a pain in the a.. to crawl under. Again and again. From the intersection to Nye was more of the same, trees to go under around, over. Then as a kick in the face you can see the summit sign but there's a tree fallen over accoss the pathjust below. So, literally we almost had to crawl to the summit on our knees. I felt like I was praying to the Nye gods to put me out of my misery. It got very cold fast, we tried to snack and drink, but the wind chill was roughly -20 degrees with a steady 10 mph wind-even in the trees. Ok, maybe -10, but who's counting?
The trip back to the intersection proved to be very fast, just to warm back up. From here to Street was very fast, except for 8-10 more trees to fight with. But these draped a little higher, so all I had to do was limbo a little, not actually do a stomach crawl.
The summit was very socked in at this point, and one of my favorite views in the High Peaks wasn't there. But the snow was amazing, a ton of it. Fresh powder on a nice crust-the glissading agian was amazing. Down to the intersection in 20 minutes, out to the car in just over 2 hours from the summit of Street.
Killer day, great company. It was fun guys. We should do it again soon. Different peaks of course.
