Double Bow
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- Joined
- Apr 29, 2005
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My friend TallHiker and I headed into the Pemi for a big weekend of peakbagging and socializing. We were going to spend the night at Zealand Hut with a bunch of other folks, some of whom are on this site (howdy, y'all).
The two of us headed in over Hale, which was to be #30 toward my Winter 48. The raod and the trail were both broken and barebootable. As we climbed Hale, we first saw a gentleman solo on snowshoes and a little later saw Mohammed coming down with a friend. We chatted a bit about conditions and the weather before continuing on our ways. Once TH and I hit the summit, we had a bite to eat and I took cloudy pictures. As we headed down off the summmit of Hale, we figured that it was a short mileage day for us and that we would be getting to the hut a bit too early so, we decided to head up South Hale.
We found an easy way up and came out to a great view point up there. However, even though we poked around the summit area for a long while and we sure we had reached the highest point, we never found the canister. Oh, well.
After that, we headed down and got to the hut just in time for dinner (fortunately we weren't the cooks). We had a great time and got a goodnight's sleep.
The next morning, docross and Anne offered to move TH's car to Lincoln Woods so we would save 4mi and 1000' elev by heading down Bondcliff, rather than heading back out via Zealand Road. I had thought about possibly cutting short my plan and just doing Zealand since my foot had been hurting me, but I sucked it up and we accepted their gratious offer. Still, I was nervous not knowing what we would run across for conditions and how my foot would hold up over the 17 miles we had ahead of us. Still, once we hit Zealand, there would be no turning back. Everybody and our car would be long gone.
We headed out to Zealand at 8:30am in high spirits and day was promising to be beautiful and exciting. As we neared the summit spur, we saw two people we'd spent the night before with at the hut. They were tagging Zealand before heading out. They were our last chance to turn back, but we kept on. Now, we were fully committed to seeing this thing through. We tagged Zealand, which became the 15th NH4K that I've done in all four seasons, and took a snack break back at the spur junction.
The trail ahead gave us a little reason for concern. It was much less broken than the trail to that point from the hut had been. In fact, we were only following the snowshoe tracks from a group of three that had gone in the day before to stay at Guyot. We were very greatful that those people had done that as we had foolishly left our snowshoes behind. Still, with the compacting they had done, we had little problem deccending the west side of Zeland and working our way up Guyot.
On Guyot, the wind was blowing hard but it was bearable. I couldn't get over the austier beauty of this special place in winter. It was desolate and looked quite unhabitable. Still, it was an amazing site. The folks on snowshoes had been able to walk on top of the frozen crust without breaking though. We were not so fortunate. I lead the way alternating between walking on top of the ice and punching through into knee deep snow. Once we reached the Bondcliff trail, we put on our STABILicers and goggles, though we really ought to have done that earlier.
The rest of the way out to West Bond was uneventful. We dropped our packs at the start of the spur. The good thing was that from the spur to Guyot camp on, the trail was in a bit better shape. We figured this was due both to the folks who had spent the night camping and those who had done the Bonds as an "out-and-back" from Lincoln Woods. On West Bond we got our first clear views and they were amazing. I took a lot of pictures and we almost didn't want to leave. Still, the best was yet to come.
On Bond, we got a clear view of the snowy summit of Washington, the rest of the Presidentials, the Willey Range, and many other prominent peaks. The views we had of Bondcliff were amazing as well.
As we headed down toward Bondcliff, we went over more sections of crusty snow, though it was only ankle deep. Still, something upsetting happened as we approached the bottom of the col. I realized I had lost one of my STABILicers and I fell on my back almost imediately after that. I went back a ways trying to find it but with no luck. As we were short on time and daylight, I had to give up my search. If anyone finds it this winter (or spring) I'd appreciate you contacting me about it.
Carefully and more slowly, TH and I headed up Bondcliff. It was beautiful but I was watching my footing pretty carefully and so I didn't look around as much as I would have otherwise. On the summit, we took in the views once more and I put on my crampons. When we were done up there, it was around 4:30pm. We had about an hour before we would need to put on headamps and over 9mi to go. Time to boogie.
Aside from on one short scramble, we made great time on the way down. By the time we had to stop to put on our headlamps, we had dropped about 1600'. The rest of the way down was long but fast and easy. Just when it seemed like we'd never get to the Wilderness trail, we did. There we continued our quick pace and averaged a pace of 3mph. Not too shabby for at the end of a long day with heavy packs on! This was the one time that the Wilderness trail did not seem endless. We just cruised with high spirits, feeling really good about getting all those peaks and the great weather we'd been blessed with.
Once we got out (8:30pm), we changed and called docross to thank him again for moving the car and to let him know we were safe. 12hrs and 17mi after we had leff the hut, we were tired but happy. At The Common Man we toasted with C-Man Ales and enjoyed well-deserved burgers.
Here are my pics:
Hale & S. Hale
Zealand and Bond
The two of us headed in over Hale, which was to be #30 toward my Winter 48. The raod and the trail were both broken and barebootable. As we climbed Hale, we first saw a gentleman solo on snowshoes and a little later saw Mohammed coming down with a friend. We chatted a bit about conditions and the weather before continuing on our ways. Once TH and I hit the summit, we had a bite to eat and I took cloudy pictures. As we headed down off the summmit of Hale, we figured that it was a short mileage day for us and that we would be getting to the hut a bit too early so, we decided to head up South Hale.
We found an easy way up and came out to a great view point up there. However, even though we poked around the summit area for a long while and we sure we had reached the highest point, we never found the canister. Oh, well.
After that, we headed down and got to the hut just in time for dinner (fortunately we weren't the cooks). We had a great time and got a goodnight's sleep.
The next morning, docross and Anne offered to move TH's car to Lincoln Woods so we would save 4mi and 1000' elev by heading down Bondcliff, rather than heading back out via Zealand Road. I had thought about possibly cutting short my plan and just doing Zealand since my foot had been hurting me, but I sucked it up and we accepted their gratious offer. Still, I was nervous not knowing what we would run across for conditions and how my foot would hold up over the 17 miles we had ahead of us. Still, once we hit Zealand, there would be no turning back. Everybody and our car would be long gone.
We headed out to Zealand at 8:30am in high spirits and day was promising to be beautiful and exciting. As we neared the summit spur, we saw two people we'd spent the night before with at the hut. They were tagging Zealand before heading out. They were our last chance to turn back, but we kept on. Now, we were fully committed to seeing this thing through. We tagged Zealand, which became the 15th NH4K that I've done in all four seasons, and took a snack break back at the spur junction.
The trail ahead gave us a little reason for concern. It was much less broken than the trail to that point from the hut had been. In fact, we were only following the snowshoe tracks from a group of three that had gone in the day before to stay at Guyot. We were very greatful that those people had done that as we had foolishly left our snowshoes behind. Still, with the compacting they had done, we had little problem deccending the west side of Zeland and working our way up Guyot.
On Guyot, the wind was blowing hard but it was bearable. I couldn't get over the austier beauty of this special place in winter. It was desolate and looked quite unhabitable. Still, it was an amazing site. The folks on snowshoes had been able to walk on top of the frozen crust without breaking though. We were not so fortunate. I lead the way alternating between walking on top of the ice and punching through into knee deep snow. Once we reached the Bondcliff trail, we put on our STABILicers and goggles, though we really ought to have done that earlier.
The rest of the way out to West Bond was uneventful. We dropped our packs at the start of the spur. The good thing was that from the spur to Guyot camp on, the trail was in a bit better shape. We figured this was due both to the folks who had spent the night camping and those who had done the Bonds as an "out-and-back" from Lincoln Woods. On West Bond we got our first clear views and they were amazing. I took a lot of pictures and we almost didn't want to leave. Still, the best was yet to come.
On Bond, we got a clear view of the snowy summit of Washington, the rest of the Presidentials, the Willey Range, and many other prominent peaks. The views we had of Bondcliff were amazing as well.
As we headed down toward Bondcliff, we went over more sections of crusty snow, though it was only ankle deep. Still, something upsetting happened as we approached the bottom of the col. I realized I had lost one of my STABILicers and I fell on my back almost imediately after that. I went back a ways trying to find it but with no luck. As we were short on time and daylight, I had to give up my search. If anyone finds it this winter (or spring) I'd appreciate you contacting me about it.
Carefully and more slowly, TH and I headed up Bondcliff. It was beautiful but I was watching my footing pretty carefully and so I didn't look around as much as I would have otherwise. On the summit, we took in the views once more and I put on my crampons. When we were done up there, it was around 4:30pm. We had about an hour before we would need to put on headamps and over 9mi to go. Time to boogie.
Aside from on one short scramble, we made great time on the way down. By the time we had to stop to put on our headlamps, we had dropped about 1600'. The rest of the way down was long but fast and easy. Just when it seemed like we'd never get to the Wilderness trail, we did. There we continued our quick pace and averaged a pace of 3mph. Not too shabby for at the end of a long day with heavy packs on! This was the one time that the Wilderness trail did not seem endless. We just cruised with high spirits, feeling really good about getting all those peaks and the great weather we'd been blessed with.
Once we got out (8:30pm), we changed and called docross to thank him again for moving the car and to let him know we were safe. 12hrs and 17mi after we had leff the hut, we were tired but happy. At The Common Man we toasted with C-Man Ales and enjoyed well-deserved burgers.
Here are my pics:
Hale & S. Hale
Zealand and Bond
