Jason Berard
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- Oct 28, 2006
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Since we bagged our hike on New Years Day due to weather, we decided we couldn't wait until the weekend to get our first hike of the new year in, and agreed to do Cardigan last night.
As we started up the trail, we all turned off our headlamps because to moonlight was so bright, we didn't need them!
. What we did need, however was traction! The trail, even near the bottom was ICY! We all put on stabilicers and started off again. The moon lit up the 3/8" crust on the trees as if someone had strung christmas lights on all the trees lining the trail! About halfway up, we were serenaded by a pack of coyotes howling! When we got closer to treeline we were serenaded to again, but this time it was the wind, which was pretty strong. Greg, John and I all layered up and continued on.With the strong moonlight, we could see that the entire top of the mountain was encased in ice, and with the wind....we guessed 35-40 mph....( somewhat tricky to stand up, very hard to hear anything), the footing was okay, but we took our time. When we reached the top, we took refuge in the lee of the fire tower, and looked around at the lights below, trying to determine what we were looking at. We saw two ski areas with night skiing. One was Whaleback, and the other one was south of that...Sunapee maybe?
I had brought my crampons, and decided to switch before heading down, but John and Greg stuck with the stabilicers. About halfway to treeline, Greg lost his footing and slid maybe 30 feet before he could stop himself, which was no fun to watch. We picked our line down VERY carefully from there to treeline, and had better success. Once below the trees, Greg checked his bag, as he had brought a bottle of champagne to toast the new year. The bottle was fine, but the three ptastic cups were split all over
When we reached the bottom, we all toasted the new year , cracked cups and all , and headed for home.
We all agreed that crampons really were essential in those conditions, and ice axes would have been helpful too. . All in all though, it was a great way to start the year out!
As we started up the trail, we all turned off our headlamps because to moonlight was so bright, we didn't need them!
. What we did need, however was traction! The trail, even near the bottom was ICY! We all put on stabilicers and started off again. The moon lit up the 3/8" crust on the trees as if someone had strung christmas lights on all the trees lining the trail! About halfway up, we were serenaded by a pack of coyotes howling! When we got closer to treeline we were serenaded to again, but this time it was the wind, which was pretty strong. Greg, John and I all layered up and continued on.With the strong moonlight, we could see that the entire top of the mountain was encased in ice, and with the wind....we guessed 35-40 mph....( somewhat tricky to stand up, very hard to hear anything), the footing was okay, but we took our time. When we reached the top, we took refuge in the lee of the fire tower, and looked around at the lights below, trying to determine what we were looking at. We saw two ski areas with night skiing. One was Whaleback, and the other one was south of that...Sunapee maybe?I had brought my crampons, and decided to switch before heading down, but John and Greg stuck with the stabilicers. About halfway to treeline, Greg lost his footing and slid maybe 30 feet before he could stop himself, which was no fun to watch. We picked our line down VERY carefully from there to treeline, and had better success. Once below the trees, Greg checked his bag, as he had brought a bottle of champagne to toast the new year. The bottle was fine, but the three ptastic cups were split all over
When we reached the bottom, we all toasted the new year , cracked cups and all
, and headed for home.We all agreed that crampons really were essential in those conditions, and ice axes would have been helpful too.
. All in all though, it was a great way to start the year out!
