Esther and Whiteface 1-1-11

[TMax]

Trail Conditions: Crap! Snow is soft, sloppy and wet. Trail up Marble Mountain alternated between rocks, snow, ice, water. From there up to the Esther herdpath wasn't too bad. The snow was soft and plenty of ice patches but we easily barebooted. Out to Esther was really rotten. Soft wet and mushy! Very often we'd take a step and immediately a puddle would form. The snow was so bad, it almost felt like cream at times. Your feet would slide out to the left, to the right,, etc... The trail up to Whiteface wasn't much better. The swampy area on the flat ridge section was, well - swampy! Got my feet pretty wet there. Once above the Wilmington turn, we took the road just to get some relief. The stairs up to the summit were dicey as they were quite ice-covered in sections. We decided to walk the road back down (instead of the crappy trail). And guess what? That was a sloppy mess too.

Special Equipment Required: Nothing helped, not microspikes, not snowshoes. Hiking poles were necessary to keep us on our feet!

Comments: Even with the less than ideal conditions, it was a great day cuz I was in the mountains!

Hikers: TMax and Topofgothics