halfmoon
New member
Really interesting conditions in the Catskills right now.
The climb up to Indian Head was pretty mellow, with patchy snow and ice. I put micros on probably around 3000', but it was still spotty ice up to 3500'. The descent off of Indian Head heading to Twin was really exciting. Steep ice frozen SOLID. I had micros, and was uncomfortable in a few places, would have preferred a set of 10 points coming down into the notch. The quick run up to the east summit of Twin was spotty snow and ice, and pretty mellow, micros are fine. Heading back to prediger was spotty until you got to 3000' or so, then I bare booted, making sure to step ONLY on rocks and not black ice. Snowshoes will not be of any value until there is more snow. Everything frozen solid, I did not post hole even once with micros. So then I headed over to Hunter....
Started from route 214, spotty snow at trailhead, so I put my micros on again, then suddenly the snow went away completely (??), I guess the trail gets alot of sub. Bareboot up until 3200' or so, then Micros to the Tower. There was more snow on Hunter, maybe a foot of hard, frozen, postholed snow. I used micros, never postholed myself, but the trail is in bad shape right now, watch those ankles. Again, snowshoes are of no value for Hunter as of 1/3/10.
In a nutshell, its very ice, micros or 10's recommended.
The climb up to Indian Head was pretty mellow, with patchy snow and ice. I put micros on probably around 3000', but it was still spotty ice up to 3500'. The descent off of Indian Head heading to Twin was really exciting. Steep ice frozen SOLID. I had micros, and was uncomfortable in a few places, would have preferred a set of 10 points coming down into the notch. The quick run up to the east summit of Twin was spotty snow and ice, and pretty mellow, micros are fine. Heading back to prediger was spotty until you got to 3000' or so, then I bare booted, making sure to step ONLY on rocks and not black ice. Snowshoes will not be of any value until there is more snow. Everything frozen solid, I did not post hole even once with micros. So then I headed over to Hunter....
Started from route 214, spotty snow at trailhead, so I put my micros on again, then suddenly the snow went away completely (??), I guess the trail gets alot of sub. Bareboot up until 3200' or so, then Micros to the Tower. There was more snow on Hunter, maybe a foot of hard, frozen, postholed snow. I used micros, never postholed myself, but the trail is in bad shape right now, watch those ankles. Again, snowshoes are of no value for Hunter as of 1/3/10.
In a nutshell, its very ice, micros or 10's recommended.
