U
Unregistered
Guest
Hike Sat 1/17/09
Trail Conditions: Better than expected. We were a party of two and we both ascended using snowshoes just to avoid damaging the soft trail. Lots of traffic throughout the day made the trail nice and hard for the decent. All the way back to the car my buddy just used bare boots and I wore Microspikes for the hell of it. I just got them and wanted to try them out. Below treeline rocks coverage is great and the trail is nice and firm. Above treeline the trail is pretty much hardpack, drifts, glaze ice, and exposed rock.
Weather: COLD!!! I typically hike with an insulated Camelbak and a couple of Nalgenes in bottle jackets. I can usually get most of the day out of the Camelbak and the Nalgenes are my backup. Well I made it just past the bathrooms in the beginning of the trail before my Camelbak hose froze solid. first time this has ever happened to me. So it ended up being used as a dromedary to refill the Nalgenes. Below tree line it was comfortable wearing a base layer and a softshell w/ just glove liners. If you stopped for 5 minutes or more you could feel the cold creeping in on your finger tips and face. Above Treeline it was rough. Once we got near the top the wind hit us and the windchill was nasty. All I can say is that it was very cold. I wore down over my softshell and my core was fine. I put my heavy mittens on over my liners and my four fingers were fine. But my thumb was starting to tingle and go numb. The views were awesome and the weather was fun. The observatory claims the higher summits had windchills in the -50 to -60 range. I dont know if that was accurate but it was the coldest day I have ever hiked.
We canceled our loop plan and turned back at the summit because of the cold and our water was freezing pretty fast even inside insulated bottle jackets. But we did see people on the ridge making the trek from Lincoln. I am assuming they ascended Falling Waters and went completely across. Cold day to do the loop.
Special Equipment: Poles were nice, snowshoes were helpful and will be needed tomorrow during/after the incoming snow, full face gear was necessary above treeline, bottle jackets helped, heavy shell was good especially if you wanted to cross the ridge, and Microspikes were perfect for the summit climb (lots of exposed rocks and ice. Crampons would have been overkill but people were using them).
Trail Conditions: Better than expected. We were a party of two and we both ascended using snowshoes just to avoid damaging the soft trail. Lots of traffic throughout the day made the trail nice and hard for the decent. All the way back to the car my buddy just used bare boots and I wore Microspikes for the hell of it. I just got them and wanted to try them out. Below treeline rocks coverage is great and the trail is nice and firm. Above treeline the trail is pretty much hardpack, drifts, glaze ice, and exposed rock.
Weather: COLD!!! I typically hike with an insulated Camelbak and a couple of Nalgenes in bottle jackets. I can usually get most of the day out of the Camelbak and the Nalgenes are my backup. Well I made it just past the bathrooms in the beginning of the trail before my Camelbak hose froze solid. first time this has ever happened to me. So it ended up being used as a dromedary to refill the Nalgenes. Below tree line it was comfortable wearing a base layer and a softshell w/ just glove liners. If you stopped for 5 minutes or more you could feel the cold creeping in on your finger tips and face. Above Treeline it was rough. Once we got near the top the wind hit us and the windchill was nasty. All I can say is that it was very cold. I wore down over my softshell and my core was fine. I put my heavy mittens on over my liners and my four fingers were fine. But my thumb was starting to tingle and go numb. The views were awesome and the weather was fun. The observatory claims the higher summits had windchills in the -50 to -60 range. I dont know if that was accurate but it was the coldest day I have ever hiked.
We canceled our loop plan and turned back at the summit because of the cold and our water was freezing pretty fast even inside insulated bottle jackets. But we did see people on the ridge making the trek from Lincoln. I am assuming they ascended Falling Waters and went completely across. Cold day to do the loop.
Special Equipment: Poles were nice, snowshoes were helpful and will be needed tomorrow during/after the incoming snow, full face gear was necessary above treeline, bottle jackets helped, heavy shell was good especially if you wanted to cross the ridge, and Microspikes were perfect for the summit climb (lots of exposed rocks and ice. Crampons would have been overkill but people were using them).
