U
Unregistered
Guest
The trail from the Gardens parking area to John's Brook Lodge and Bushnell Falls is in good shape. There is virtually no snow and manageable ice conditions. Continued on to Slant Rock and took the cutoff to the col between Basin and Little Haystack. The ice conditions get progressively worse and make for slow progress. There was from 2" to 6" of light snow on top of the ice but snowshoes were not needed at any point on this hike. The views on the summit are spectacular but the extreme cold and limited daylight made for a short visit. On the decent of Basin there was ample snow to slide down and avoid walking on the ice altogether. The ascent of Saddleback from that side is as advertised: difficult. Crampons were of no use climbing over the boulders and rock face near the summit. It was a matter of finding the handholds and ledge and just using raw strength to get over each one. I would not have wanted to try it going the opposite way. There seemed to be much more ice on the way down Saddleback than there was anywhere on Basin. With enough snow the new slide makes for an easy way down. We ran out of daylight but had the benefit of a cloudless sky and billions of stars to light our way.
