Bonds from LW 3.7.09

[mtnpa]

Tremendous! Looks like the stars lined up for you!

What made you do out-&-back, rather than pushing through? When you got to your furthest point, did you feel you wanted to keep going north, or was it a relief to retrace your steps (photo 50: "View of the route back")? Could you have carried skis through the trees on the Bondcliff Trail (let alone deciding it's a good idea)?

We hoped that the miles on skis would be easy.
The potential drawback was the possibility of fighting high winds coming back across Bondcliff.

Snow depths on Bondcliff Trail put branches at face level. Lots of face-rakers and eye-jabbers.
Skis would've constantly hooked on branches for long sections.

On the way down from Bond Steve-o and I found where the trail diverged from the tracks and followed it most of the way back to the real trail. Bypassed lots of spruce traps.

Temps this day were nearly 50 degrees higher than temps during my last two Bonds attempts. Great day above treeline

 

[FreightTrain]

The upper section from bondcliff to bond did get side tracked a little. When I hit the spruce traps the only thing that kept me going forward was the knowledge of the big group that had just gone through the section. I thought it better to follow the group rather than hunt around for the proper trail. It wasn't too bad with the snow shoes on. Glad you stopped in to visit us on your way out Juniper.

 

[SherpaKroto]

D*mn: seeing pics like that make me realize how much I miss it! Thanks for the memories!

 

[donna]

Great TR Rebecca...and awesome pictures, thanks to you and Peter. Had a great time, wonderful day with fun friends...and I did bag the real West Bond Summit.

 

[--M.]

Great stuff; thanks for testifyin'.

 

[forestgnome]

Wow! That's a really long winter hike. Thanks for sharing excellent pics and TR!

happy trails