Mt. Carrigain, 2/25/12, Finishing the WNH48

[Paradox]

The chattering classes have been clearing their throats, and musing that perhaps this year winter lists are cheating and not worthy. But yesterday we had plenty of snow to break trail through, and feel good about our winter hiking legs. The parking lot at Route 302 and Sawyer River Road had not been cleared at 7:00 am when Chip, ishmael, The Rankins and I arrived. We charged through the foot high snow wall into the lot with about 6" of fresh stuff. Bikehikeskifish, and Jill arrived forthwith and had no trouble in their 2 wheel drive vehicles. We geared up and headed up the Sawyer River Road breaking trail for me only the second time in as many years. Early morning is nice with no snowmobiles to dodge. The road gains about 500' over the 2 miles to the Signal Ridge Trailhead. The Irene washout is quite evident, but it is no issue for those on foot. Tim noted my first pun at 20 minutes in. The trail gains another 500' in the 1.7 miles to the Carrigain Notch Trail Junction and was not hard to follow. The ice bridges over Whiteface Brook at .15 miles were solid, and the crossings of Carrigain Brook near the junction were shallow and of no consequence. As the going assumes moderate grades approaching Signal Ridge, Poopsmith and Big&Slow caught up to us and we let them break trail. Poopsmith charged right into it and dissappeared ahead of us. The winds had been forecast in the 25-45 mph range and we stopped in the trees as the winds were really beginning to kick up. As we broke into the clear of the ridge the winds were moderate.

At the tower there were photos all around, and much knuckle bumping. The trip down was uneventful. On the road, we had to move aside for about two dozen snowmobiles in small groups. They were all very nice.

GPS track on Wikiloc.

 

[Chip]

Great day. Congrats to Paradox ! Congrats to the group !

Getting started;

Joined by Ishmael, Jill, Big 'n Slow and Poop Smith;

Paradox's finish;

Bikehikeskifish conquers the tower...against our advice...in his showshoes;

Couple of couples;

I like these pics;

 

[una_dogger]

Congrats ! Fun day and great bunch of peeps - sorry I was unable to partake in the fun. ;-) Looks
like a bit more frosty than when I was there a few weeks ago. Amazing those water crossings are unfrozen!

 

[Chip]

short Summit video;

 

[J&J]

Congratulations, Paradox!!

 

[bignslow]

The chattering classes have been clearing their throats, and musing that perhaps this year winter lists are cheating and not worthy. But yesterday we had plenty of snow to break trail through, and feel good about our winter hiking legs. The parking lot at Route 302 and Sawyer River Road had not been cleared at 7:00 am when Chip, ishmael, The Rankins and I arrived. We charged through the foot high snow wall into the lot with about 6" of fresh stuff. Bikehikeskifish, and Jill arrived forthwith and had no trouble in their 2 wheel drive vehicles. We geared up and headed up the Sawyer River Road breaking trail for me only the second time in as many years. Early morning is nice with no snowmobiles to dodge. The road gains about 500' over the 2 miles to the Signal Ridge Trailhead. The Irene washout is quite evident, but it is no issue for those on foot. Tim noted my first pun at 20 minutes in. The trail gains another 500' in the 1.7 miles to the Carrigain Notch Trail Junction and was not hard to follow. The ice bridges over Whiteface Brook at .15 miles were solid, and the crossings of Carrigain Brook near the junction were shallow and of no consequence. As the going assumes moderate grades approaching Signal Ridge, Poopsmith and Big&Slow caught up to us and we let them break trail. Poopsmith charged right into it and dissappeared ahead of us. The winds had been forecast in the 25-45 mph range and we stopped in the trees as the winds were really beginning to kick up. As we broke into the clear of the ridge the winds were moderate.

At the tower there were photos all around, and much knuckle bumping. The trip down was uneventful. On the road, we had to move aside for about two dozen snowmobiles in small groups. They were all very nice.

GPS track on Wikiloc to follow.

Congrats again John, thanks again for inviting us along we had a wonderful time. Sorry that we had to hike & run!

Great day. Congrats to Paradox ! Congrats to the group !

Getting started;

Joined by Ishmael, Jill, Big 'n Slow and Poop Smith;

Paradox's finish;

Bikehikeskifish conquers the tower...against our advice...in his showshoes;

Couple of couples;

I like these pics;

Thanks for sharing the pictures Chip, it was nice to see you on the hike

 

[The Poopsmith]

What a great day! Big congrats to Paradox and thanks for letting us tag along!

 

[marty]

Great hike, report and pix, folks! Congrats to my man, Paradox!

Wish I could have joined. Carrigain in the winter rocks.

Marty

 

[Tom Rankin]

Congrats from us too! Great to see everyone and have some nice conversations as we trudged along.

I know your peakbagging days are not over. What's next?

 

[Paradox]

Thanks to all who came along. Great photos Chip! Tim has posted some great photos on Facebook, we missed you at the Pink Flamingo.

Whats next? This may be the "Year of the List". I hope to finish the ADK46 In the next couple of months. I am shooting for Big Slide on a Friday, then cross Lake Champlain and finish the NE67, the NEHH and the NE115 on Mansfield the following day. The Catskills and the Trailwrights List need some attention, as do some of the kayaking excursions in New York.

 

[Silverfox]

Congratulations on your W48 finish Paradox!!

looked like a fun group and a great day

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Nice to finally meet Chip, meet Big-N-Slow and Poopsmith, and Jill, and great to see Tom, Laurie (at least once per winter) and Henry. Finally, congratulations to you, John, with whom I shared 7 peaks this year.

My photos, limited as they are

And for John, I have a special video clip to share with you:



Tim

 

[Chip]

Don't get the Piggys reference (though I was weaned on The White Album), but we did start the hike with some "What I Believe" references;

 

[Paradox]

The Piggies reference was a holdover from the Bonds Traverse. The Day before I heard a story on NPR on Lard and how it was seldom called for in recipes and difficult to find in the supermarket. They closed the piece (as the often do) with music, which in this case was "Piggies". It imprinted on my brain and the next day as we set off up Zealand Road I found it still there. Good cadence for hiking. We were singing on several occasions during the day as we recalled random lines of the lyrics. I started singing "Piggies" on Sawyer River Road at one point but it never stuck.

 

[PETCH]

Congratulations to you John on the W48! Looks like you folks had a good time.

Petch

 

[Ed'n Lauky]

Congratulations, well done. Great pictures also. As for what counts or doesn't count, I've struggled through chest deep drifts and blizzards in late march that didn't count for winter, so if I get a great day that does count so much the better.

 

[Jay H]

Congratulations Paradox, woot woot!

Jay

 

[Puck]

Great job..congrats. I am sorry to have missed the event.

 

[Chip]

Sorry for the late ad, but: I'm glad I didn't bring my AT skis. The Sawyer River Rd walk to the trailhead is too flat for any fun. Cross Country maybe.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

Congrats, John. And somehow I find it fitting that your final peak be in cruddy weather. If all the peaks were blue-bird days then everybody would be up there, and that would be a fine kettle of fish, as my mother would say.

I remember being with Al Dwyer when he finished his winter 48's on Eisenhower. It was so windy and awful that it blew one of the hikers off his feet, and even Brutus was getting blown around. We tried to drink champagne but had to give it up until we got back below treeline on Pierce/Clinton.

Anyway - good to see you finish that goal. From all the smiles it looks like everyone was enjoying themselves.