Mt. Clay - a great place to play

[marty]

Early this week, I sent an email to "the gang" asking if they wanted to hike this weekend. I heard back quickly from Rols, who suggested Clay via Jewell. Concurrently, I received a PM from Little Bear (Kris), who hadn't hiked in a while, but had a free day on Saturday. So, we decided that the three of us would tackle Clay.

We arrived at the Cog Railway parking lot about 7:25 am in temps around 10 degrees and quickly geared up and hit the Jewell Trail. The trail was well packed, but required traction of some sort. We took our time, stopping at all viewpoints and were passed by three solo hikers and eventually made it to treeline. The views were fantastic and the conditions were mixed snow and ice, but not daunting at all. Traction was essential, but Kris's bad-ass 12 point crampons were probably overkill (she misplaced her Grivel G-10's). Winds were light and the sun was warm

We eventually made it to the south summit of Clay. The views were magnificent in all directions. We could even see Mt. Mansfield in VT and Saddleback/Horn in ME in the distance. It was here that Kris posed for a shot with Mt. Washington in the background:

After lunch, we headed to the north summit, not knowing which was the higher point

We eventually headed down and stopped along the way to take a picture of two Pleasant Domes - Mt. Eisenhower and me:

And as the temps began to warm, Rols shed his shell to reveal his sporty fuschia vest:

It was an incredible hike with tremendous friends under perfect conditions. Mt. Clay is breathtaking and serene. WHAT A DAY! All my pix are here:
http://share.shutterfly.com/share/r...4b5f4106d880031ecd658bfd733&sid=0YYtW7Vo1YsK-

Kris and Rols, it was a pleasure to hike with you again. Let's get together real soon!

Marty

 

[NeoAkela]

Truly a great peak and excellent conditions for hiking! Glad to see the rain Wednesday didn't effect the slopes!

 

[Tuco]

Marty- nice report and especially the pix.

Great lookin' day- made me want to be there!

 

[Jason Berard]

Cool! Marty, I'm glad you could get out with friends yesterday! I wish I could have been there. I'm also glad your "dome" was pleasant!

 

[1HappyHiker]

Glad you were able to enjoy a beautiful “Clay-day”!

 

[BIGEarl]

Well done! It's pretty hard to beat Clay as a target especially with those conditions.

Nice pics too.

 

[Rols]

A perfect day. Great companions....terrific weather...couldn't be better trail conditions....what more could you ask for? The day was a "keeper" for the memory books.

 

[sapblatt]

Now I am really depressed - wow - magnificent stuff - looks like a great day - really wished I made this one.

 

[marty]

Thanks everyone for the replies

NeoAkala, special thanks to you for your Mt. Clay TR last week. That really got me stoked for our Saturday hike . I had trouble sleeping the night before due to the anticipation. Tried sorting through my gear list in my head, trying to get to sleep, but it did not work . By sheer coincidence, Little Bear had the same problem and did the same thing .

Rols, I forgot to thank you in the original TR for suggesting Clay. What a great choice. Also thanks for being our tour guide, since neither Little Bear nor I had hiked Jewell or summited Clay.

Regards,
marty

 

[Rols]

Marty,

The pleasure was all mine to have the opportunity to hike with you and Kris up such a wonderful route. I knew you two would enjoy the route.