Silverfox
New member
After midweek hike to Hale showed Zealand Road still open a plan began to form to take advantage of that mileage savings on a Bonds Traverse...a mile not spent walking on the road is a mile saved for sure..
The forecast for sunday called for normal temps and low winds..This was a bit of a stretch while listening to the winds howl on friday with a reinforcing shot called for on saturday but the die was cast. Tim unable to join to to a sore knee..humm..i wonder if 35 mile runs have anything to do with that..but he and Val dropped a car up at Zealand saturday during the day.
Cold and blustery day saturday..very wintry for sure but sunday dawned clear and calm. Val and I headed out from Lincoln Woods at 715..the lot was quite empty and we saw no one on Lincoln Woods or Wilderness Trails which were in great shape with all the mud frozen and smooth but not quite ice..A light dusting of snow showed fresh tracks as we approached the Bondliff Trail jct..An hour 30 to there..not bad with the winter packs.
Bondcliff Trail started off nicely with good firm footing and a light dusting os snow. A few blowdowns in this section were left for the next time. We arrived at the first crossing..some pretty good water flow and much ice on the rocks..I found my way across..mostly using rocks just below the surface..slipping a little bit but no issue. Val put on her winter boots here after using the inovates to this point. Her first step was a slippy one and both feet and gloves were in the water though she recovered quickly and quickly made it across. After a quick assessment the only real damage was wet gloves and bruised pride so she changed out the gloves and muttered a bit while I rescued thermos that had fallen out of her pack and was in the middle of the brook. A little colder wetter or windier and that would have been it for the day for sure.
The second good size crossing comes pretty soon after and I scouted a bit and found a good way across though Val was a bit nervous on one of the steps. She donned microspikes which helped alot and we soon on our way. I put my spikes on just above the upper crossing where we started to run into some pretty substantial ice. We ran into a solo gentleman from Canada who was doing an out and back to Bondcliff.
As we approached the final ledge to Bondcliff I finally said it out loud. No wind! It was dead calm all along the ridge which when combined with the 26 degree temp made for a very pleasant ridge walk and we lingered in many spots looking at the great views in all directions. The ridge was bare so we took off spikes for awhile..about half way up Bond i saw movement on West and saw 3 folks there..I learned later at the hut that someone had finished their 48 today but we never caught up with them. Some pretty good ice flows started up again and back went the microspikes which stayed on for most of the rest of the day.
Bond is glorious and the elimination of the offensive scree wall of summer was noted..much good work on the cairns and brushing along the way as well..I like to be there for 12:00 lunch and we were only a couple of minutes off that time...blame it on the views.. As we dropped off the back of Bond the snow depth increased to 3-4 inches which made for smooth sailing and we made quick time to the West Bond Spur..Judging from the tracks there we had just missed the others. We were over to West Bond quickly and enjoyed the fine views and pleasant day there for a bit. The descent and then climb to Guyot a real nice section of trail and I always enjoy the views along that stretch..a great mountain. The trip over to Zealand was a snowy trail delight..very fun and we were at the summit of mighty mighty Zealand at 2:00...perfect..I wanted to be past the hut by dusk and it looked like we would make it..Every time there I think back to the winter shots with the sign right at snow line.
Icy spots started on and off across the ridge and around the useless knob in the middle there..note: the ladder there is now down to 3 steps with another one rotted out since summer. Big and bad ice bulges just past there took a moment to negotiate but once back on the flats it was smooth sailing over to Zeacliff where we paused again for that terrific view. A gray jay..a very fat gray jay, followed us for awhile..Valerie confessed that maybe she had shared some gorp...
The descent from Zeacliff to the hut is fairly steep and rough to begin with..throw in an on again off again but pretty steady blue ice river for good measure and I was hoping for my mini crampons which were left in the car. The microspikes worked okay bit I was glad mine were fairly new and had some teeth to them. We took a few of the established off trail routes that bypassed some of the worse stretches but this did take some time getting down. The larger water crossing above the hut was flowing pretty good with icy rocks...good example as how the shoulder season can be pretty difficult.after scouting a bit we settled on a route and comfortably made it across. The other crossings were fine and we dropped to the hut where we chatted with the first people we had seen in awhile. They had stayed at the hut the night before and tackled Guyot during the day.
The descent from the hut very icy and tricky..we followed a well worn and cut out path through the woods that rejoined the trail 2/3s of the way down. Once to the flats it was pretty good going with just enough snow to show the trail and still light so we zoomed through the Z bridge which is getting tippier every visit and the brook crossings in no time. We put on the headlamps for the last 15 minutes or so and were happy to see the car..thanks Tim!.. as the moon rose over the Rosebrook Range.. 10 hours straight up..a great day out..
a few pics ..double click on photo for best look
http://www.flickr.com/photos/silverfox777/sets/72157625322152005/
The forecast for sunday called for normal temps and low winds..This was a bit of a stretch while listening to the winds howl on friday with a reinforcing shot called for on saturday but the die was cast. Tim unable to join to to a sore knee..humm..i wonder if 35 mile runs have anything to do with that..but he and Val dropped a car up at Zealand saturday during the day.
Cold and blustery day saturday..very wintry for sure but sunday dawned clear and calm. Val and I headed out from Lincoln Woods at 715..the lot was quite empty and we saw no one on Lincoln Woods or Wilderness Trails which were in great shape with all the mud frozen and smooth but not quite ice..A light dusting of snow showed fresh tracks as we approached the Bondliff Trail jct..An hour 30 to there..not bad with the winter packs.
Bondcliff Trail started off nicely with good firm footing and a light dusting os snow. A few blowdowns in this section were left for the next time. We arrived at the first crossing..some pretty good water flow and much ice on the rocks..I found my way across..mostly using rocks just below the surface..slipping a little bit but no issue. Val put on her winter boots here after using the inovates to this point. Her first step was a slippy one and both feet and gloves were in the water though she recovered quickly and quickly made it across. After a quick assessment the only real damage was wet gloves and bruised pride so she changed out the gloves and muttered a bit while I rescued thermos that had fallen out of her pack and was in the middle of the brook. A little colder wetter or windier and that would have been it for the day for sure.
The second good size crossing comes pretty soon after and I scouted a bit and found a good way across though Val was a bit nervous on one of the steps. She donned microspikes which helped alot and we soon on our way. I put my spikes on just above the upper crossing where we started to run into some pretty substantial ice. We ran into a solo gentleman from Canada who was doing an out and back to Bondcliff.
As we approached the final ledge to Bondcliff I finally said it out loud. No wind! It was dead calm all along the ridge which when combined with the 26 degree temp made for a very pleasant ridge walk and we lingered in many spots looking at the great views in all directions. The ridge was bare so we took off spikes for awhile..about half way up Bond i saw movement on West and saw 3 folks there..I learned later at the hut that someone had finished their 48 today but we never caught up with them. Some pretty good ice flows started up again and back went the microspikes which stayed on for most of the rest of the day.
Bond is glorious and the elimination of the offensive scree wall of summer was noted..much good work on the cairns and brushing along the way as well..I like to be there for 12:00 lunch and we were only a couple of minutes off that time...blame it on the views.. As we dropped off the back of Bond the snow depth increased to 3-4 inches which made for smooth sailing and we made quick time to the West Bond Spur..Judging from the tracks there we had just missed the others. We were over to West Bond quickly and enjoyed the fine views and pleasant day there for a bit. The descent and then climb to Guyot a real nice section of trail and I always enjoy the views along that stretch..a great mountain. The trip over to Zealand was a snowy trail delight..very fun and we were at the summit of mighty mighty Zealand at 2:00...perfect..I wanted to be past the hut by dusk and it looked like we would make it..Every time there I think back to the winter shots with the sign right at snow line.
Icy spots started on and off across the ridge and around the useless knob in the middle there..note: the ladder there is now down to 3 steps with another one rotted out since summer. Big and bad ice bulges just past there took a moment to negotiate but once back on the flats it was smooth sailing over to Zeacliff where we paused again for that terrific view. A gray jay..a very fat gray jay, followed us for awhile..Valerie confessed that maybe she had shared some gorp...
The descent from Zeacliff to the hut is fairly steep and rough to begin with..throw in an on again off again but pretty steady blue ice river for good measure and I was hoping for my mini crampons which were left in the car. The microspikes worked okay bit I was glad mine were fairly new and had some teeth to them. We took a few of the established off trail routes that bypassed some of the worse stretches but this did take some time getting down. The larger water crossing above the hut was flowing pretty good with icy rocks...good example as how the shoulder season can be pretty difficult.after scouting a bit we settled on a route and comfortably made it across. The other crossings were fine and we dropped to the hut where we chatted with the first people we had seen in awhile. They had stayed at the hut the night before and tackled Guyot during the day.
The descent from the hut very icy and tricky..we followed a well worn and cut out path through the woods that rejoined the trail 2/3s of the way down. Once to the flats it was pretty good going with just enough snow to show the trail and still light so we zoomed through the Z bridge which is getting tippier every visit and the brook crossings in no time. We put on the headlamps for the last 15 minutes or so and were happy to see the car..thanks Tim!.. as the moon rose over the Rosebrook Range.. 10 hours straight up..a great day out..
a few pics ..double click on photo for best look
http://www.flickr.com/photos/silverfox777/sets/72157625322152005/
Last edited:
