Guinness
Active member
Participants: TMax, JayH, ajtiv, HarryK and Guinness
We started off this portion of the Devil’s Path by spotting a car at the Mink Hollow Road and then returned to the trailhead on Prediger Road. On this trip we had warm and sunny weather joining us from start to finish. It was decided to leave the snowshoes in the cars, which turned out to be a foolish mistake.
On the trail in, we turned right onto an old fire road that leads to Echo Lake and Overlook Mtn. 100 yards later, we turned right onto the trail up to Indian Head. We reached the first chin of Indian Head and enjoyed some views and lunch. We then headed up to the summit where we had great views of Plattekill and the fire tower on Overlook. We also had a direct view of the German Bruderhof commune.
Leaving the summit and descending into Jimmy Dolan Notch, the snow and ice started to accumulate. Up to this point, when we encountered snow, the crust was sufficient to support our weight. But as the warmth of the day softened the snow, we began to posthole. In the Notch, we heard other voices off in the distance and saw eleven loaded pack packs on the sides of the trail.
Continuing on, we ascended to East Twin where we had good views of Belleayre Ski Resort and the fire tower on Hunter Mountain. From this point on, the snow and postholing started to slow our group down. I postholed beyond my knees at regular intervals. Poor TMax who was the last in our group, had to deal with these trail conditions which were devastated by the leading four. She did a great job keeping up and dealing with our postholes. Having a shorter gate, she had to plow through what we did not break up already. Way to go!
Passing over West Twin, we descended through very slushy snow accompanied by sections of ice. The west side of all the peaks challenged us with these conditions. Down to Pecoy Notch and back up to Sugarloaf was challenging to keep to our timetable. We still had the Catskills 3500 Dinner that evening! We did not linger on Sugarloaf and made the decision to head out to the car before we were to late. The descent down Mink Hollow was very challenging with large areas of ice and soft snow. Sections of exposed mud followed ice and snow. I took one step on a mud section and promptly slipped and slid down 15 feet in the mud. Only minor scrapes! From the junction in Mink Hollow, we followed the unmarked jeep road out to the car.
We shuttled the cars, enjoyed a couple of beers and headed off to the dinner. Only stopping at a rest area to clean up and change clothes.
Lesson learned – carry the snowshoes. After so many years of climbing I should have known better, but the warmth of the past few days made me too confident.
We started off this portion of the Devil’s Path by spotting a car at the Mink Hollow Road and then returned to the trailhead on Prediger Road. On this trip we had warm and sunny weather joining us from start to finish. It was decided to leave the snowshoes in the cars, which turned out to be a foolish mistake.
On the trail in, we turned right onto an old fire road that leads to Echo Lake and Overlook Mtn. 100 yards later, we turned right onto the trail up to Indian Head. We reached the first chin of Indian Head and enjoyed some views and lunch. We then headed up to the summit where we had great views of Plattekill and the fire tower on Overlook. We also had a direct view of the German Bruderhof commune.
Leaving the summit and descending into Jimmy Dolan Notch, the snow and ice started to accumulate. Up to this point, when we encountered snow, the crust was sufficient to support our weight. But as the warmth of the day softened the snow, we began to posthole. In the Notch, we heard other voices off in the distance and saw eleven loaded pack packs on the sides of the trail.
Continuing on, we ascended to East Twin where we had good views of Belleayre Ski Resort and the fire tower on Hunter Mountain. From this point on, the snow and postholing started to slow our group down. I postholed beyond my knees at regular intervals. Poor TMax who was the last in our group, had to deal with these trail conditions which were devastated by the leading four. She did a great job keeping up and dealing with our postholes. Having a shorter gate, she had to plow through what we did not break up already. Way to go!
Passing over West Twin, we descended through very slushy snow accompanied by sections of ice. The west side of all the peaks challenged us with these conditions. Down to Pecoy Notch and back up to Sugarloaf was challenging to keep to our timetable. We still had the Catskills 3500 Dinner that evening! We did not linger on Sugarloaf and made the decision to head out to the car before we were to late. The descent down Mink Hollow was very challenging with large areas of ice and soft snow. Sections of exposed mud followed ice and snow. I took one step on a mud section and promptly slipped and slid down 15 feet in the mud. Only minor scrapes! From the junction in Mink Hollow, we followed the unmarked jeep road out to the car.
We shuttled the cars, enjoyed a couple of beers and headed off to the dinner. Only stopping at a rest area to clean up and change clothes.
Lesson learned – carry the snowshoes. After so many years of climbing I should have known better, but the warmth of the past few days made me too confident.
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