Signing-in at the trailhead at 6:05 a.m., I knew my plans would need to change. Hoping to climb possibly the three peaks was out of the question. The last group signing-in was Dec. 13 and even the snowmobiles had not been up the road. I had thought that at least someone would have been up the Bradley Pond trail, possibly to the lean-to for camping in the last two weeks. I was expecting to have to break trail to Panther, and further if I was lucky. But now it was clear I would be breaking trail anywhere I decided to go, and it would be slow in the deep snow. I thought about just driving back home, but no, I might as well enjoy myself and turn around whenever I felt like it, or when my time ran out. I decided to go toward Mt Santanoni by the old path rather than toward Panther/Couchie. If I got to the top, I wouldn’t mind leaving those two peaks for another day (Couchie was unlikely from the start unless the trail to Panther was broken out). If I didn’t get to the top of Santanoni, so be it. I’ve been there before.
I will simplify my trip report by just relating the times and distances, which explain things more easily than boring you with descriptions of how incredibly deep the snow was. Let’s just say a good step was usually one without sinking knee-deep. I turned back at 4385 ft (the ridge is 4589 ft) after 9.5 hours of climbing, exhausted and facing at least an hour more to climb the 200 ft to the ridge in waist deep soft snow laden with spruce traps. For comparison, I will include some past summer hiking times for the same routes.
Trailhead to start of Santanoni path (3.3 mi): 3h15min
(in summer: 1h10min)
From BP trail to turnaround 200 ft below ridge (1.2 mi): 6h15min
(in summer, to ridge (1.3 mi): 1h25min)
Total ascent of 2900 ft, 4.5 mi, in 9h45min
Return to Trailhead (4.5 mi): 2h45min
Total hike: 12h25min
One tired hiker, but all in all, it was a nice day!
I will simplify my trip report by just relating the times and distances, which explain things more easily than boring you with descriptions of how incredibly deep the snow was. Let’s just say a good step was usually one without sinking knee-deep. I turned back at 4385 ft (the ridge is 4589 ft) after 9.5 hours of climbing, exhausted and facing at least an hour more to climb the 200 ft to the ridge in waist deep soft snow laden with spruce traps. For comparison, I will include some past summer hiking times for the same routes.
Trailhead to start of Santanoni path (3.3 mi): 3h15min
(in summer: 1h10min)
From BP trail to turnaround 200 ft below ridge (1.2 mi): 6h15min
(in summer, to ridge (1.3 mi): 1h25min)
Total ascent of 2900 ft, 4.5 mi, in 9h45min
Return to Trailhead (4.5 mi): 2h45min
Total hike: 12h25min
One tired hiker, but all in all, it was a nice day!
