It took the five of us about 9 hours to do the loop, up Gill Brook and down over Dial. We signed in at 8:30 and out at 5:20. The Lake Road was nearly as icy as the trail, which is to say VERY, and we all wore traction aids right from the get-go; Christine on stabilicers and the rest of us on microspikes, and carried our snowshoes. There was just enough snow above the jct of the Fish Hawk Cliffs trail that Gary switched to MSRs. Christine strapped on full crampons as her m'spikes were in the bottom of her pack and she didn't feel like digging for them, while Alex, Tony, and I stayed on microspikes, which we found necessary and sufficient. From the summit of N'top the entire range was visible, with only Algonquin in the clouds beyond Marcy. Looking south toward Elk Lake the streams were ribbons of white in the dark woods, as were the slides on Dix and on the east face Colvin and Blake. The stillness of the air was unexpected as Elisabeth and I had nearly been blown of the top of Dix on Monday, so it was very nice to spend a little time in the silence just watching the play of light and shadow on the wintry high peaks. The rest of the hike was mostly a pleasant and uneventful descent, except that on the last pitch just before the road my right foot began to lose grip, which brought to my attention that a m'spike had popped off. Fortunately after a few minutes of backtracking Gary spotted it hanging from the root that snagged it. As our party traversed the recent burn area on the shoulder of Noonmark, the setting sun created a wonderful alpenglow against the darkening sky. Maybe this was the last bare-boot hike of the season. Snow is in the forecast.
Nippletop & Dial - 6 Jan 2011
- Thread starter nundagao
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