frigid osceolas 1/15

[Tom Rankin]

-11 to start wore almost everything in my pack! Trail hard packed still a few rocks and roots. Wore snowshoes all day , lots of icy patches. Great views! Paradox joined for the shivering, also ran into procook on the way.

 

[IndianChris]

Hey Tom,
Nice.
-11? What time of day was that?
Any pics you can post?
Am thinking about trying to get to the Osceolas this spring.
Thx.

 

[Paradox]

Hey Tom,
Nice.
-11? What time of day was that?
Any pics you can post?
Am thinking about trying to get to the Osceolas this spring.
Thx.

That was about 7 am in Bethlehem. When we left the trailhead at about 9:20am it was about 0. It dropped to about -10 on the ridge with a 10-20 mph breeze.

I'll have some pictures and a GPS track tonight.

 

[Tom Rankin]

Previous post was from a phone, so a little terse....

It was below 0 several times during the day, it seemed that either the temps or the technology were fluctuating wildly! The car opener and the phones were dead when we got back to the parking lot, but we manged to get everything warmed up eventually, and functional.

I guess we just missed Bryan and Cynthia, shucks! Also, I guess a few other folks flew by us on the trail! We were probably covered in so many layers it would have been hard to tell who we were...

Speaking of layers, John, I trust your nose is ok? My thumb is a little tingly this morning, not good (and I had hand warmers in all day!)

I don't know if anyone mentioned this yet, but the stream crossings were all frozen over and easy to cross. The ski trails all looked like they were broken out too. And we had a nice view down to Greeley Pond, it looked like it was blown clean of snow, hockey time!

 

[Tom Rankin]

Oh, yeah, I also wanted to disagree with another poster that said the chute go-around is in good shape. Granted I did not wear crampons, but if it were not for the 1 remaining tree in the go-around, it would be mighty difficult to get down w/o risking a fall. The 3 of us all made it (and 2 of us were 6' tall or more), but it was a little hairy. So, I'd strongly recommend bringing crampons for this hike. Many people we met were wearing them.

 

[Paradox]

Speaking of layers, John, I trust your nose is ok? My thumb is a little tingly this morning, not good (and I had hand warmers in all day!)

The nose is snot bothering me a bit. My thumbs are okay too, but I had a difficult time keeping them functional all day. I have spent some time this morning rereading the Mittens... thread from two years ago.

 

[Paradox]

Here are pictures and GPS track on Wikiloc

 

[Tom Rankin]

Speaking of pics:

http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/o1.jpg - Tripyramids
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/o2.jpg - Typical view of the trees

 

[Paradox]

Speaking of pics:

http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/o1.jpg - Tripyramids
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/o2.jpg - Typical view of the trees

Great clouds!

 

[Chip]

Hey Tom,
Nice.
-11? What time of day was that?

I took my family up to Jericho Mountain State Park in Berlin for the middle of the day. It warmed up to a balmy 3 degees down low by about 1pm. We also experienced some 25 mph wind chill, but were clothed well. Great seeing the crew. Great weekend for New England and New York.

 

[Ed'n Lauky]

Oh, yeah, I also wanted to disagree with another poster that said the chute go-around is in good shape. Granted I did not wear crampons, but if it were not for the 1 remaining tree in the go-around, it would be mighty difficult to get down w/o risking a fall. The 3 of us all made it (and 2 of us were 6' tall or more), but it was a little hairy. So, I'd strongly recommend bringing crampons for this hike. Many people we met were wearing them.

Lauky and I did that hike a couple of weeks ago when there was almost no snow. The Hillsounds didn't really cut it then. Lauky with his claws was having no problems. Going up that by-pass was not too difficult but I remember looking down at that solid ice chute and thinking this is going to be interesting. I got myself down to the tree you mentioned then dropped into the woods directly behind the tree and went the rest of the way down that way. I agree about the advisability of using crampons on that hike.