Panther Peak 1/27/08

[porky]

Following our treadway from the day before (see preceeding report), Danielle and I returned to Times Square hoping to tag Santanoni and Panther Peak. The ascent to the Square was routine, although some of the treadway varied from the standard route, requiring pushing through bits of dense brush and negotiating some odd dips and wows. Snow was deep powder. Another party and ourselves left a well-packed route to Panther's summit. There is one hairy bit of ice as one ascends the last few bare rocks to the summit plateau. We opted to use crampons for this. The rest of the route was completed in snowshoes, as had been our hike to Couch the day before. Because of deep powder and frequent spruce traps along the attempted route, we were unable to make it to Santanoni this time. Oh, well.