Neil
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2004
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If ever a guy was carried upwards and forwards by his friends this was my day. It has been a bit of a lean hiking winter for me and gradually I must have been getting out of hiking shape. Maintaining fitness by walking around the suburban wilderness with a 30-pound pack just doesn’t cut it on the Great Range. In spite of a good day doing Nippletop and Dial last week the merciless decline in my fitness level must have crossed some sort of a threshold during the intervening week. I was carrying a heavier than usual pack, which didn’t help matters any.
Tom (Randomscooter), Glen (Mastergrasshopper) and I left the Garden at 5:30 sharp after introducing ourselves to Richard who was finalizing his prep. At 10F it was a little cool for standing around so the 3 of us started slowly up the trail to keep the blood flowing. It was a beautiful clear morning and RoosterComb and Benny’s brook slide came and went from view.
After a few 5 minute breaks along the route without any sign of Richard we wrote our times in the snow and departed Bushnell Falls. From Bushnell to Slant Rock I was feeling a little weak and out of shape and developed a burning pain in my left hip. The pace set by Tom and Glen was moderate but I let myself fell a couple of minutes behind. No sense crashing and burning before the climb!
From Slant Rock to the Haystack connector trail I decided to set my own pace based on what I knew was coming. I couldn’t sustain what should have been my regular pace but I knew for sure I could do all 3 peaks if I played it cool. Then, at the junction to Haystack I discovered to my dismay that my ice axe had fallen off the back of my pack. This fuelled a short discussion regarding the necessity of the axe and the probability of ever finding it. Considering that Richard, Rik and Alain (Pin-Pin) were all coming up behind us we figured the odds were in the 70-80% range of recovering it. On we climbed.
Now, get this. The day before, Glen had broken trail on a sustained and super-human effort from JBL to Basin via the Haystack connector and returned back over it. He was the first hiker through since the Valentine’s Day storm. Struggling as I was I couldn’t help but marvel that the very next day he was in fine fettle and I couldn’t even keep up with him. I could see that he had broken through deep wind consolidated drifts and spent time searching for the trail in what must have been very difficult conditions.
As I was testing my limits I turned around to see Pin-Pin coming up behind me and sure enough what does he have on the back of his pack but my axe :tup: (Alain, I'm buying at the next beer night). I let him pass by and he led us around Little Haystack instead of over it. This was very interesting because the route was composed of downward sloping, glazed over aprons of snow interspaced with vertical steps, or drops of varying heights. Tom had kindly waited for me and now he and I were unsure of the exact route Glen and Alain had followed. The wind was a typical Little Haystack breeze and Alain was pointing us this way and that with his pole when both my MSR’s came out from under me. I got my axe in and hung on with both legs flailing uselessly below me as I lay on my side. Below was a 60 foot vertical drop. I had to rotate onto my stomach and pray that my axe would hold. It did and I got both sets of my MSR crampons firmly set into the crust and raised myself on shaky legs. Tom and I detoured around to lower, safer terrain. Looking at my 60 foot drop I could see that adrenalin had played a trick on me. It was only about 8 feet.
Glen had also fallen at the same spot.
We summited Haystack under thick and ominous black clouds that moved in and spit ice at us. We met up with Rik and Richard who were descending the regular route on Little Haystack. Rik had no trouble with his MSR’s but Richard with his Sherpas took a 20 foot slide and used his axe to self-arrest. I didn’t see it but Alain said he stopped just before a long vertical drop.
I was feeling pretty weak and was starting to wonder if it was a wise move to go over Basin and Saddleback. Considering that the whole procession including Glen’s work was largely on my behalf I found it very difficult to say so out loud but at the junction I did. I was met with a hail of protests and when Glen said something like, we’re all here for you, I felt bad. But I knew I could do it and reasoned that I was with the fastest and strongest hikers in the Adirondacks whose pace I should simply ignore and do it at my on sweet pace. Had it not been for the cliffs of Saddleback I would have told them to go ahead and I would see them at the Garden. We settled on Tom and Alain going ahead and busting out the trail from Basin to Saddleback with Glen and I bringing up the rear.
Rik and Richard would catch up.
I was determined not to suffer. I wanted to fully enjoy the day and the absolutely amazing country we were in. This part of the Range is one the ruggedest and most unforgiving places I know in the Adirondacks. I found that what worked best for me was to climb for a short stretch at a reasonable pace and then stop for 5-10 seconds. Each time I started up again I felt fresh. Glen had done an amazing job breaking out the trail and we went through a couple of humungous spruce traps as we ascended in the hot, hot sun.
Rik caught us at the summit and it was great to soak in the views and the sun while chatting (and resting). I took lots of pictures. He mentioned that Richard was pretty beat and that he was following. We followed Tom and Alain’s excellent track down off of Basin and paused at Basin’s sub summit. I felt uncomfortable proceeding without knowing what was going on with Richard and we waited until he showed up waving his arms and shouting over the wind that he was turning back. We speculated as to whether he would climb back up to Haystack’s shoulder or try his luck with the Shorey Short cut. I think he would have been better off continuing but it was impossible to communicate.
Descending Basin was very cool because we could see the guys waiting in the sun at the base of Saddleback’s cliffs. (they had waited for half an hour) When we arrived at the crux of Alain’s “chicken route” Tom was right there with a piece of webbing complete with hand loops. We switched to crampons and I heaved myself up feeling like a freshly landed fish. It was 100 feet to the summit where the 5 of us regrouped and put the snowshoes back on. I was really happy and very grateful to have such a great bunch of friends. There is no way I would be sitting at 44 winter peaks right now had it not been for their encouragement, understanding, immense help and camaraderie. Thanks Tom, Glen, Alain and Rik. Thank you very much. :drink:
The rest of the trip out was relatively uneventful. We met skiers at the top of Orebed who said they were doing the True North Slide. At the Orebed LT I stopped to remove some clothing and there was a guy who had plans to climb the North Face of Gothics the next day. It started raining steadily and when we stopped at JBL to put a jacket on there was a couple with big packs heading to Bushnell or Slant with Haystack as their goal. Glen regaled them with tales of our slipping and self-arresting on Little Haystack. When we got back to the Garden it was 5. 11½ hours later.
What an amazing day it was! What a place! What great people!
Rendezvous on Marcy in December. (in the meanwhile I’m going to the gym)
PICTURES
Tom (Randomscooter), Glen (Mastergrasshopper) and I left the Garden at 5:30 sharp after introducing ourselves to Richard who was finalizing his prep. At 10F it was a little cool for standing around so the 3 of us started slowly up the trail to keep the blood flowing. It was a beautiful clear morning and RoosterComb and Benny’s brook slide came and went from view.
After a few 5 minute breaks along the route without any sign of Richard we wrote our times in the snow and departed Bushnell Falls. From Bushnell to Slant Rock I was feeling a little weak and out of shape and developed a burning pain in my left hip. The pace set by Tom and Glen was moderate but I let myself fell a couple of minutes behind. No sense crashing and burning before the climb!
From Slant Rock to the Haystack connector trail I decided to set my own pace based on what I knew was coming. I couldn’t sustain what should have been my regular pace but I knew for sure I could do all 3 peaks if I played it cool. Then, at the junction to Haystack I discovered to my dismay that my ice axe had fallen off the back of my pack. This fuelled a short discussion regarding the necessity of the axe and the probability of ever finding it. Considering that Richard, Rik and Alain (Pin-Pin) were all coming up behind us we figured the odds were in the 70-80% range of recovering it. On we climbed.
Now, get this. The day before, Glen had broken trail on a sustained and super-human effort from JBL to Basin via the Haystack connector and returned back over it. He was the first hiker through since the Valentine’s Day storm. Struggling as I was I couldn’t help but marvel that the very next day he was in fine fettle and I couldn’t even keep up with him. I could see that he had broken through deep wind consolidated drifts and spent time searching for the trail in what must have been very difficult conditions.
As I was testing my limits I turned around to see Pin-Pin coming up behind me and sure enough what does he have on the back of his pack but my axe :tup: (Alain, I'm buying at the next beer night). I let him pass by and he led us around Little Haystack instead of over it. This was very interesting because the route was composed of downward sloping, glazed over aprons of snow interspaced with vertical steps, or drops of varying heights. Tom had kindly waited for me and now he and I were unsure of the exact route Glen and Alain had followed. The wind was a typical Little Haystack breeze and Alain was pointing us this way and that with his pole when both my MSR’s came out from under me. I got my axe in and hung on with both legs flailing uselessly below me as I lay on my side. Below was a 60 foot vertical drop. I had to rotate onto my stomach and pray that my axe would hold. It did and I got both sets of my MSR crampons firmly set into the crust and raised myself on shaky legs. Tom and I detoured around to lower, safer terrain. Looking at my 60 foot drop I could see that adrenalin had played a trick on me. It was only about 8 feet.
Glen had also fallen at the same spot.We summited Haystack under thick and ominous black clouds that moved in and spit ice at us. We met up with Rik and Richard who were descending the regular route on Little Haystack. Rik had no trouble with his MSR’s but Richard with his Sherpas took a 20 foot slide and used his axe to self-arrest. I didn’t see it but Alain said he stopped just before a long vertical drop.
I was feeling pretty weak and was starting to wonder if it was a wise move to go over Basin and Saddleback. Considering that the whole procession including Glen’s work was largely on my behalf I found it very difficult to say so out loud but at the junction I did. I was met with a hail of protests and when Glen said something like, we’re all here for you, I felt bad. But I knew I could do it and reasoned that I was with the fastest and strongest hikers in the Adirondacks whose pace I should simply ignore and do it at my on sweet pace. Had it not been for the cliffs of Saddleback I would have told them to go ahead and I would see them at the Garden. We settled on Tom and Alain going ahead and busting out the trail from Basin to Saddleback with Glen and I bringing up the rear.
Rik and Richard would catch up.
I was determined not to suffer. I wanted to fully enjoy the day and the absolutely amazing country we were in. This part of the Range is one the ruggedest and most unforgiving places I know in the Adirondacks. I found that what worked best for me was to climb for a short stretch at a reasonable pace and then stop for 5-10 seconds. Each time I started up again I felt fresh. Glen had done an amazing job breaking out the trail and we went through a couple of humungous spruce traps as we ascended in the hot, hot sun.
Rik caught us at the summit and it was great to soak in the views and the sun while chatting (and resting). I took lots of pictures. He mentioned that Richard was pretty beat and that he was following. We followed Tom and Alain’s excellent track down off of Basin and paused at Basin’s sub summit. I felt uncomfortable proceeding without knowing what was going on with Richard and we waited until he showed up waving his arms and shouting over the wind that he was turning back. We speculated as to whether he would climb back up to Haystack’s shoulder or try his luck with the Shorey Short cut. I think he would have been better off continuing but it was impossible to communicate.
Descending Basin was very cool because we could see the guys waiting in the sun at the base of Saddleback’s cliffs. (they had waited for half an hour) When we arrived at the crux of Alain’s “chicken route” Tom was right there with a piece of webbing complete with hand loops. We switched to crampons and I heaved myself up feeling like a freshly landed fish. It was 100 feet to the summit where the 5 of us regrouped and put the snowshoes back on. I was really happy and very grateful to have such a great bunch of friends. There is no way I would be sitting at 44 winter peaks right now had it not been for their encouragement, understanding, immense help and camaraderie. Thanks Tom, Glen, Alain and Rik. Thank you very much. :drink:
The rest of the trip out was relatively uneventful. We met skiers at the top of Orebed who said they were doing the True North Slide. At the Orebed LT I stopped to remove some clothing and there was a guy who had plans to climb the North Face of Gothics the next day. It started raining steadily and when we stopped at JBL to put a jacket on there was a couple with big packs heading to Bushnell or Slant with Haystack as their goal. Glen regaled them with tales of our slipping and self-arresting on Little Haystack. When we got back to the Garden it was 5. 11½ hours later.
What an amazing day it was! What a place! What great people!
Rendezvous on Marcy in December. (in the meanwhile I’m going to the gym
)PICTURES
