K
kerry
Guest
Lower elevation trails are frozen on the way in and a bit muddy on the way out. Brooks are pretty low, but there is usually an ice glaze on the rocks. After the trail split with Marcy, that first steep section up to Haystack is a river of thick ice--so thick one cannot even distinguish the rocks. I was wearing microspikes and carrying crampons (which I never used) and second-guessing this hike in these conditions. Little Haystack and the summit were largely free of ice and snow though. Range trail has mostly light snow. Ice above the ladder on the way to Basin was melting in places down to the bare rock with another corridor of ice above the chute. Sat in the sun on the summit for quite a while. Though I had been dreading the descent on the north side of Basin, enough snow covered the ice that though my progress was somewhat slow and deliberate, it was controlled. The cliff up Saddleback appeared clear, but, alas, ice along with a little snow covered all the cracks and some of the hand/toe holds. I don't have much reach and so needed to wear the microspikes part of the way. I was relieved to be on the summit. The Orebed is a river of thick ice all the way to the new debris field. While snow remains on the new slide, it has mostly disappeared on the trail which makes for worse traction. I followed the footprints of a couple guys doing Basin and Saddleback apparently without traction--while I find this impressive I am not convinced. They did a lot of sliding, taking off the snow and leaving the bare ice for me! Probably a lot safer with traction until we get better snow cover. Lovely day, perfect temperature, orion on the ferry over and jupiter and the moon on the ride home.
