Neil
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A group of 7 (Grasshopper and his friend Brian, Timmus, Alistair, Hillman1, my son Dominic and myself) started up the Boquet Valley on the south bank of the north fork of the Boquet River 5:45 Saturday morning. The herd trail was icy so we donned either MSR’s or crampons and were just getting warmed up when Alistair remembered his crampons were still in his car 3 miles up the road at the Round Pond TH. Since the plan was to do the slide on East Dix he had no choice but to go back in another car and get them. The rest of us kept moving and the base of the slide was to be our rallying point. Doug decided to wait for him and the five of us moved up valley always remaining on the south bank. It’s a fairly lengthy jaunt up to Grace but the trip is one of the prettiest in the ADK’s. As you make progress the ridge running off of Grace to Elizabeth Town #4 and Spotted Mountain serves as a yardstick to measure your progress. When Grace comes into view it looks like a huge intimidating tooth thrust high into the sky. Having our first objective visible from so low and so far away was a motivator that kept us pushing.
The snow was not deep at all and for most of the way we followed old washed out tracks. We kept wondering if we would meet up again with Doug and Alistair. Dominic pointed out that at one point we had made a right angle turn off of the spur herd trail leading to Rhododendron Pond into the bush descending 50 feet off the ridge where there was no snow at all for about 100 yards. A perfect spot for hurried travellers to miss our trail.
Once you get to the slide’s base you are at about 3200 feet and the cirque from about Pough to the Beckhorn is sitting right there in front of you. You KNOW you have a lot of work to do. We waited for close to an hour and who should pop out onto the base of the slide but Doug and Alistair. Sure enough at the aforementioned bare patch they spent a lot of time with the map figuring out where to go.
Getting all 7 of us to the summit was a feat in itself and would have made for a full and very satisfying outing in it's own right. Just at the top of the slide there is steep rock to the left and a narrow passageway along the base of the rocks. This passageway was an ice flow with some bulges that made us beginners balk. Glen who is no beginner made it up and when he said "very tricky" I knew we would be spending a lot of time there getting everybody up. Dom had climbed the rocks on the left to the summit ridge and came back down to the top of the “crux”. I had 50 feet of rope in my pack but the problem was that I was at the bottom of the crux. Gingerly, and after making sure my crampon points were sticking in nicely I removed my pack and dug the rope (webbing actually) out. I tossed it up towards Glen but it the webbing is not very dense and it fluttered uselessly to a spot right in the middle of the crux and lay there. At least it was in a small sac. Now I had no choice but to go get it so I left my pack behind and climbed to a little flat spot where I got a good stance and reached the bag. Still, I felt very much like the amateur I was. The next toss was a touchdown and Dominic secured it to a handy birch tree. Once I had the webbing to hold on to it was a quick cake walk. As the minutes continued to tick by up came my pack and the rest of the crew. From there to the summit it was a 5 minute sprint. Had it been cold and windy that little experience would have been a lot rougher and would have taken a lot longer to get through. The slide (not too steep or long) was a good first experience for most of us making us aware of how physically demanding it can be to make crampons and axe work well together while remaing aware that a slip can result in a quick trip down the mountain.
The decision to edit Macomb out of the day’s itinerary took about 1 second and we made our way over to Carson. There were fresh tracks that went in and out of the herd trail but a quick check of the gps ensured us we were on the right track. As we went up Carson we noticed second set of tracks (MSR Lightnings) and I wondered out loud to Glen if we had passed right by someone else going in the opposite direction without seeing them. Sure enough Doug and Alistair met up with none other than Pin-Pin who was doing the Dixes in the opposite direction. Glen, Julie and I must have just missed him. It’s a big place.
More ups and down were ahead of us as we went down and then up Pough, down and up Hough. Hough is a steep SOB but only entails about 350 of ascent. The wind was strong but not too bad and we had a lunch break on Hough. The Beckhorn, the dominant feature for much of the day looms out of the sky and looks impossible to climb. However, the view straight across from Macomb to the slide we had just done on Grace looks totally ridiculous due to the foreshortening. Down into the Hough–Beckhorn col we went. I have done this route twice in summer but today the Range struck me as being the ruggedest place on earth. Brooding clouds that luckily didn’t obscure the immediate view (we could see most of Marcy ) and the omnipresent wind created a mood that is hard to describe in words. This was not the time or place to snap a tibia.
Once in the col I had to steel my resolve and keep climbing. It is only a 7 or 800 foot climb exluding a few little descents but I was feeling the day’s accumulated exertions and maybe wasn’t completey recovered from an almost as big a day a few days earlier. Of course there are plenty of little lookouts along the narrow ridge that offer food for the soul and chances to rest.
We were lucky to have Pin-Pin’s tracks, not that the snow was soft - it had a very supportive crust and there was no sinking in anywhere - but for the time saved in route finding. Alain would have our trail from the base of Grace out but it’s pretty obvious who got the best of that “exchange”.
Before we knew it we were looking down at the Beckhorn slide. My-oh-my but the top section seems steep. If I was to do it I would head for the low spot just off the Beckhorn’s high point on the Dix side. The cripple brush must be something to write home about!
We took a nice break on Dix and who should show up but AJ who had just finished doing all five and was going to head back down the Beckhorn trail to the Slide Brook Lean-To.
The descent down to Hunters pass junction was quick. The descent to the base of the slide can be as quick as a person is willing to risk his neck. If ever the ice axe was to justify the effort of lugging it all the way from Grace this was it. I enjoyed a safe but quick knee-saving buttslide all the way down. The views of the multiple slides on Dix were truly humbling. Especially as the principal one was covered in ice.
We regrouped at the LT and I think most of us would have curled up into a little ball and gone to sleep right there if we could have. It was close to 6 and the light was fading fast. Just then Dominic pulled some packages and envelopes out of his pack, “Happy Birthday, I forgot to give you this on the summit”. Fancy chocolates, chocolate covered coffee beans – good timing! and wonderful hand written notes from my loved ones! What a birthday gift!
The long hike out to the highway took forever of course and I was hungry and tired. The only remedy is to push the pace and that it what we did with Julie in the lead crunching through the darkness. The more I return to the Dix Range the more I appreciate what a wild and wonderful region it is. Looks like I’ll be heading back there next winter, lucky me!
The snow was not deep at all and for most of the way we followed old washed out tracks. We kept wondering if we would meet up again with Doug and Alistair. Dominic pointed out that at one point we had made a right angle turn off of the spur herd trail leading to Rhododendron Pond into the bush descending 50 feet off the ridge where there was no snow at all for about 100 yards. A perfect spot for hurried travellers to miss our trail.
Once you get to the slide’s base you are at about 3200 feet and the cirque from about Pough to the Beckhorn is sitting right there in front of you. You KNOW you have a lot of work to do. We waited for close to an hour and who should pop out onto the base of the slide but Doug and Alistair. Sure enough at the aforementioned bare patch they spent a lot of time with the map figuring out where to go.
Getting all 7 of us to the summit was a feat in itself and would have made for a full and very satisfying outing in it's own right. Just at the top of the slide there is steep rock to the left and a narrow passageway along the base of the rocks. This passageway was an ice flow with some bulges that made us beginners balk. Glen who is no beginner made it up and when he said "very tricky" I knew we would be spending a lot of time there getting everybody up. Dom had climbed the rocks on the left to the summit ridge and came back down to the top of the “crux”. I had 50 feet of rope in my pack but the problem was that I was at the bottom of the crux. Gingerly, and after making sure my crampon points were sticking in nicely I removed my pack and dug the rope (webbing actually) out. I tossed it up towards Glen but it the webbing is not very dense and it fluttered uselessly to a spot right in the middle of the crux and lay there. At least it was in a small sac. Now I had no choice but to go get it so I left my pack behind and climbed to a little flat spot where I got a good stance and reached the bag. Still, I felt very much like the amateur I was. The next toss was a touchdown and Dominic secured it to a handy birch tree. Once I had the webbing to hold on to it was a quick cake walk. As the minutes continued to tick by up came my pack and the rest of the crew. From there to the summit it was a 5 minute sprint. Had it been cold and windy that little experience would have been a lot rougher and would have taken a lot longer to get through. The slide (not too steep or long) was a good first experience for most of us making us aware of how physically demanding it can be to make crampons and axe work well together while remaing aware that a slip can result in a quick trip down the mountain.
The decision to edit Macomb out of the day’s itinerary took about 1 second and we made our way over to Carson. There were fresh tracks that went in and out of the herd trail but a quick check of the gps ensured us we were on the right track. As we went up Carson we noticed second set of tracks (MSR Lightnings) and I wondered out loud to Glen if we had passed right by someone else going in the opposite direction without seeing them. Sure enough Doug and Alistair met up with none other than Pin-Pin who was doing the Dixes in the opposite direction. Glen, Julie and I must have just missed him. It’s a big place.
More ups and down were ahead of us as we went down and then up Pough, down and up Hough. Hough is a steep SOB but only entails about 350 of ascent. The wind was strong but not too bad and we had a lunch break on Hough. The Beckhorn, the dominant feature for much of the day looms out of the sky and looks impossible to climb. However, the view straight across from Macomb to the slide we had just done on Grace looks totally ridiculous due to the foreshortening. Down into the Hough–Beckhorn col we went. I have done this route twice in summer but today the Range struck me as being the ruggedest place on earth. Brooding clouds that luckily didn’t obscure the immediate view (we could see most of Marcy ) and the omnipresent wind created a mood that is hard to describe in words. This was not the time or place to snap a tibia.
Once in the col I had to steel my resolve and keep climbing. It is only a 7 or 800 foot climb exluding a few little descents but I was feeling the day’s accumulated exertions and maybe wasn’t completey recovered from an almost as big a day a few days earlier. Of course there are plenty of little lookouts along the narrow ridge that offer food for the soul and chances to rest.
We were lucky to have Pin-Pin’s tracks, not that the snow was soft - it had a very supportive crust and there was no sinking in anywhere - but for the time saved in route finding. Alain would have our trail from the base of Grace out but it’s pretty obvious who got the best of that “exchange”.
Before we knew it we were looking down at the Beckhorn slide. My-oh-my but the top section seems steep. If I was to do it I would head for the low spot just off the Beckhorn’s high point on the Dix side. The cripple brush must be something to write home about!
We took a nice break on Dix and who should show up but AJ who had just finished doing all five and was going to head back down the Beckhorn trail to the Slide Brook Lean-To.
The descent down to Hunters pass junction was quick. The descent to the base of the slide can be as quick as a person is willing to risk his neck. If ever the ice axe was to justify the effort of lugging it all the way from Grace this was it. I enjoyed a safe but quick knee-saving buttslide all the way down. The views of the multiple slides on Dix were truly humbling. Especially as the principal one was covered in ice.
We regrouped at the LT and I think most of us would have curled up into a little ball and gone to sleep right there if we could have. It was close to 6 and the light was fading fast. Just then Dominic pulled some packages and envelopes out of his pack, “Happy Birthday, I forgot to give you this on the summit”. Fancy chocolates, chocolate covered coffee beans – good timing! and wonderful hand written notes from my loved ones! What a birthday gift!
The long hike out to the highway took forever of course and I was hungry and tired. The only remedy is to push the pace and that it what we did with Julie in the lead crunching through the darkness. The more I return to the Dix Range the more I appreciate what a wild and wonderful region it is. Looks like I’ll be heading back there next winter, lucky me!
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