OCgirl
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- Joined
- Feb 7, 2005
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A week ago Saturday, we had just finished a traverse of Franconia Ridge. At 14.6 miles and 4800' of climbing it was our longest and toughest trip of the season. My feet felt like they were broken and all I could think about was taking a bath. Through the haze of the pain, I hear grasshopper ask "how long and how much climbing is a presidential traverse?" "No way" I respond, as I grab Steve Smith's book, "its more than 20 miles and close to 9000' of climbing!" Grasshoppers response was "So?" - Ah the peakbagging sickness was starting to overcome grasshopper - an individual who repeatedly turned down my offers of hiking Mount Washington in the summertime, was now suggesting a presidential traverse in the winter. 30 minutes later I had the guidebooks, map, pen and paper laid out in front of me as I began to calculate the trip.
Our original plan was to split the 6 Presidentals over 2 trips (we had already done Pierce). We were planning on waiting until mid March and then pick days of bright sunshine, light winds, and higher "weekend warrior" fitness levels. Maybe, by mid March, I would consider an attempt. (as the only member of our trio who has finished the winter 4000' list, grasshopper and funguy have left all the decision making regarding our trips, to me)
So here's what happened. A week of unbelievable winter hiking weather, while I was stuck in a cubicle and weather that was now predicted to go right through the weekend, and then a call from funguy who didn't want to hike on Sunday because he wanted to go to a Superbowl party.
So here's what we did. We packed our already heavy winter packs with more "just in case" gear, added extra snacks, and each loaded 2 100 ounce Camelback bladders filled with a Cytomax/protein mix. And we packed our headlamps, becasue we knew if we did the whole traverse, we would be coming out in the dark. We dropped funguys "just in case - bailout truck" in the lower lot of the cog railway which would allow us to drop down the Jewell trail before Washington or drop down the Ammo after Washington, and we had grasshoppers truck at the end of the Crawford Connector path in case we came down Edmonds Path or Crawford, and then we drove to Appalachia.
We barebooted up Valley Way at 7:30am, the footing was good with just a few icy spots and we got to Madison Hut just as the full bright sun was over the ridge. We dropped our packs at the hut and scrambled over the rocks to the summit. (We carried our crampons for a short while, but with all the bare rock decided it was easier navigating from rock to rock) We continued to bareboot over Adams and over to the start of the Jefferson loop trail. Until we got down off of Adams the going was tough - not enough ice to warrrant our full boot crampons (which was all we had), but enough ice to require more care on rock to rock navigation. From the base of Adams to the base of Jefferson was just unbelievable - good footing on softening snow, no winds, incredible views, and it was hot! We put our crampons back on for the ascent up Jefferson (ice and but mostly fairly hardpacked snow). And took them off again for the descent down Jefferson (just exposed rock), and kept them off for the trek to the base of Washington (some ice, mostly softening snow with good footing). At the base of Washington we put our crampons on again and kept them on. We didn't hit Washington until close to 4pm, we knew we were not going to be speedy on this trip, but the naviagation of the rocks and ice up until this point took us longer than we had anticiapted. However, our energy levels were still high - I think the awesome beauty and the rare springlike weather had created high levels of endorphins. We continued past our second bailout option and headed up to Monroe and then over to Eisenhower. The footing in several sections were a real pain (literally) with the crampons, because of the sections of just rock, but just as many other sections required them, so they stayed on (I've never used Stabilicers - but I think at this point something other than the full 12 pointers may have been a better choice). The headlamps went on at the start of the Eisenhower loop and we continued up and over and on to Pierce, crampons still on with alternating patches of snow and ice. When we hit the crawford path we decided we might as well climb the last 50 or so feet to tag Pierce again. Back to the crawford path, the crampons finally came off and stayed off. We started down Crawford Path, 3 limping nuts, in the still warm, starlit night, singing loud rounds of the Halleluiah Chorus - except our version only one line "ow, my feet hurt". (sing it to yourself with the music - it makes for a good song). Finally 12.5 hours after our trek began, we unloaded our packs into the non-bailout vehicle - and despite all of our foot pain, it was one of the best trips I have ever experienced in the Whites, and I am so grateful that the 3 of us were truly privileged enough to be able to experience such an awesome day. Thank you for letting me share it.
Our original plan was to split the 6 Presidentals over 2 trips (we had already done Pierce). We were planning on waiting until mid March and then pick days of bright sunshine, light winds, and higher "weekend warrior" fitness levels. Maybe, by mid March, I would consider an attempt. (as the only member of our trio who has finished the winter 4000' list, grasshopper and funguy have left all the decision making regarding our trips, to me)
So here's what happened. A week of unbelievable winter hiking weather, while I was stuck in a cubicle and weather that was now predicted to go right through the weekend, and then a call from funguy who didn't want to hike on Sunday because he wanted to go to a Superbowl party.
So here's what we did. We packed our already heavy winter packs with more "just in case" gear, added extra snacks, and each loaded 2 100 ounce Camelback bladders filled with a Cytomax/protein mix. And we packed our headlamps, becasue we knew if we did the whole traverse, we would be coming out in the dark. We dropped funguys "just in case - bailout truck" in the lower lot of the cog railway which would allow us to drop down the Jewell trail before Washington or drop down the Ammo after Washington, and we had grasshoppers truck at the end of the Crawford Connector path in case we came down Edmonds Path or Crawford, and then we drove to Appalachia.
We barebooted up Valley Way at 7:30am, the footing was good with just a few icy spots and we got to Madison Hut just as the full bright sun was over the ridge. We dropped our packs at the hut and scrambled over the rocks to the summit. (We carried our crampons for a short while, but with all the bare rock decided it was easier navigating from rock to rock) We continued to bareboot over Adams and over to the start of the Jefferson loop trail. Until we got down off of Adams the going was tough - not enough ice to warrrant our full boot crampons (which was all we had), but enough ice to require more care on rock to rock navigation. From the base of Adams to the base of Jefferson was just unbelievable - good footing on softening snow, no winds, incredible views, and it was hot! We put our crampons back on for the ascent up Jefferson (ice and but mostly fairly hardpacked snow). And took them off again for the descent down Jefferson (just exposed rock), and kept them off for the trek to the base of Washington (some ice, mostly softening snow with good footing). At the base of Washington we put our crampons on again and kept them on. We didn't hit Washington until close to 4pm, we knew we were not going to be speedy on this trip, but the naviagation of the rocks and ice up until this point took us longer than we had anticiapted. However, our energy levels were still high - I think the awesome beauty and the rare springlike weather had created high levels of endorphins. We continued past our second bailout option and headed up to Monroe and then over to Eisenhower. The footing in several sections were a real pain (literally) with the crampons, because of the sections of just rock, but just as many other sections required them, so they stayed on (I've never used Stabilicers - but I think at this point something other than the full 12 pointers may have been a better choice). The headlamps went on at the start of the Eisenhower loop and we continued up and over and on to Pierce, crampons still on with alternating patches of snow and ice. When we hit the crawford path we decided we might as well climb the last 50 or so feet to tag Pierce again. Back to the crawford path, the crampons finally came off and stayed off. We started down Crawford Path, 3 limping nuts, in the still warm, starlit night, singing loud rounds of the Halleluiah Chorus - except our version only one line "ow, my feet hurt". (sing it to yourself with the music - it makes for a good song). Finally 12.5 hours after our trek began, we unloaded our packs into the non-bailout vehicle - and despite all of our foot pain, it was one of the best trips I have ever experienced in the Whites, and I am so grateful that the 3 of us were truly privileged enough to be able to experience such an awesome day. Thank you for letting me share it.
