Redfield (#32), Skylight (#33), and Gray (not today!)...

[TMax]

PART 1
Met Guinness at the Loj parking area about 7:30 Friday morning. It was nice and sunny, giving lots of promise for a great weekend at Feldspar leanto! After a brief discussion regarding snowshoes (which I did NOT want to add to my already overloaded pack) we were leaning towards leaving them in the car when along came PinPin who reported recent conditions that strongly suggested we should have them. So on the pack they went. What the hell, what's another few pounds?

The hike started off on mildly wet muddy stuff but even with heavy packs we moved along at a decent pace. Took the obligatory stop at Marcy Dam for the photo op and continued on with the plan of stopping for "lunch" at the Avalanche leanto. Started running in to snow and ice but nothing to write home about. Had a brief snack at the leanto which had full ground cover of snow. Not to far above the leanto we ran into the only other person we would see all day, a ranger who commented we might want our snowshoes as the day wore on and we gained altitude. We had no idea how right he would be! The day remained sunny and pleasant as we made the elevation gain on the Lake Arnold Trail. The trail was covered with snow and patches of ice but bare-boots remained no problem until just above the trail heading over to Colden. The snowpack was deep with now frequent post-holing if you veered off the spine of the trail. Snow shoes helped quite a bit but there was no way to completely avoid these very tiring hip deep drops into the abyss! The descent down into the Opalescent river area was met with several "turtle" falls (i.e... me unable to upright myself with my heavy pack holding me down!) which Guinness failed to permanently capture with his camera (thank-you Ed!). Down into the swamp crossing which required care to minimize the plunges into deep snow. We had beautiful views of Colden and that spectacular slide that is on my list to climb! (Minus the heavy pack!)

We eventually made it to Feldspar and unloaded our packs, reloading them with only the necessary gear for a hike up Redfield. In no time at all (I felt like I had wings without all that gear on back!) we were at the herd path. Fairly low down the trail appeared to cross the stream (more like a river this day!) at a pretty scary juncture where the solidity of the ice bridge was questionable. However, on the other side we quickly lost any sign of a herd path. Guinness went back over to the other side while we both searched for possible ways up. Guinness spotted a small cairn and I worked my way back down to the crossing. It was a little hairy in spots walking along the stream and trying not to slide down into it. Then in sections, you could hear the water running underneath your feet and see occasional deep breaks in the snow down to the water, doesn't do much for ensuring your confidence. We took a route that minimized this exposure as much as possible which meant lots of trudging over/through blow down and postholing. Once we veered away from the stream, conditions improved but the steep climb was slow going. The wind had certainly been taken out of my sails. I decided that Redfield had entered the twilight zone and would just forever go up! But alas, we finally reached the summit which made the climb worth every painful moment! The views were spectacular with Marcy in all her glory! We enjoyed a small snack and discussed some future potential hikes through the region before retreating.

The hike down was quick with the continued postholes (and having to dig my snowbasket out of 4 foot holes repeatedly!) but I was sure glad when we got back away from the stream. Back at the leanto we made some hot food and Guinness learned (the hard way) that we even needed snowshoes to get to the privy! We had a couple visits from a pine marten (who was quite camera shy) and worked hard at staying awake at least until after dark!

 

[TMax]

PART 2

It rained quite a bit during the night and we awoke to foggy, wet conditions in the morning. Guinness and I struggled to find the motivation for the day's hikes. I went down to the stream to pump water and noticed the water level came up during the night. The trails would not be our friends today! We had a slow breakfast and eventually parted ways for our different goals. Guinness was headed back up Redfield and adding Cliff (he's trying to straighten out his lists!) while my intention was to get Skylight and Gray. The climb up to Lake Tear was uneventful. It's a steady UP but the trail was in pretty good shape as long as you didn't stray off the spine. At Lake Tear, I took note of where the herd path for Gray begins but continued on to Skylight first. Just above the lake most of the trail markers were at hip level, indicating good snow cover! Then in an instant I was swallowed up by an enormous fir trap . The slope behind me was a direct fast track to the lake! It took me a good 15 minutes to get myself out. It's really amazing how you can go into those things so easily yet getting out is so hard. My left foot was encased in hard snow and the more I dug around it to loosen it, the further the rest of my body sunk. I stayed focused and eventually pulled myself out. At this point I considered heading back, but chose instead just to be even more cautious in choosing my steps. This made for slow-going for a little while with a failure to appreciate the beauty of the landscape until I regained some psychological balance! At the juncture for Marcy/Skylight I headed up, once again enthusiastic. This wouldn't last long! The climb up is steep but was easy going at first given the softness of the snow and the resulting excellent bite of the snowshoes. From almost the beginning, the trail markers were barely above the snow level. Once some elevation was gained, many of the markers disappeared below the snow. Since many of the trees were also below the snow, it was extremely difficult to discern a trail and I lost it several times. Drops into fir traps were quick indicators that I had strayed in a wrong direction. Each trap sapped a huge amount of energy (both psychological and physical) from me. Just below tree-line I fell into the deepest trap I've had the displeasure of experiencing, I was up to my neck and eating spruce needles . I was holding on by one arm, knowing that I could sink further still. I had a moment of panic (which for me generally means LOTS of loud vulgar language ) but quickly regrouped and got myself out. By now I was just plain pissed off and was not going to be defeated! I walked extremely carefully, each step quite tentative until I arrived on the bare rocks just below the summit. I tore off my snowshoes and nearly flew to the top. The winds were moderate but the sun was shining. Marcy was in and out of the clouds as were many of the surrounding peaks. It felt a little like a cat and mouse game as I tried to sneak good photos of the peaks when they briefly showed themselves. I waved at Redfield just in case Guinness was over there looking my way! I replenished my energy and headed down.

It was a much easier trip as I had my own tracks to follow back down and avoid the worst of the traps! As I worked my way back to the herd path for Gray I considered the intelligence of making that attempt given the conditions... I decided since it was a southern facing slope, it would be better . There was no real path to follow, only the occasional barely noticeable snowshoe track. I worked my way up for awhile through some thick stuff and then spotted what appeared to be a herd path but wound up looking down into a major gully. I decided I was NOT going down into that and tried to climb up along the side of it. I fell into another fir trap (the first on this mountain) and had a vision of someone finding my body in the Spring stuck in a tree a few feet above the ground and trying to figure out what the hell happened to me!! I decided it was time to head back to the leanto! The trip down was uneventful and I ran into three guys who had been at Uphill the night before. They told me the rangers had told them they would not need snowshoes so they left them in their cars. They were unhappy with that decision as they had been postholing all morning! Back at the leanto, a small group had stopped for lunch and Guinness had returned from his day hike. He suggested that since it was still so early in the day (about 2:00) that we head out instead of waiting until morning. Since it was warm and sunny, with more rain predicted later, we knew the conditions would continue to deteriorate so we packed up. Two of the group eating lunch also decided to head out on the Lake Arnold trail. The slog back out through the swamp was near torture! We attempted to go around some low blow down and sunk into hole after hole after hole. I cursed and cursed and without Guinness' encouragement probably would have layed down in one of those holes and waited for Spring! The two from the other group had no snowshoes and postholed every couple of steps! It started to rain on and off but never really too badly. Making that 600 feet of ascent up out of the river valley was tough going. At one point on top, I sunk in a hole up to my hips and ran out of muscle strength to get back up on my feet. On the count of three, Guinness lifted up on my pack (have I mentioned how DAMN HEAVY that pack was) to give me an extra boost. Back at the Mt. Colden juncture, I ate a power bar and drank some water that really replenished my energy and altered my mood significantly! The snow started to disappear quickly and we stopped again at Avalanche leanto to remove snowshoes. It's amazing the difference in conditions in just a day! It started to rain hard but as soon as we started walking again it slowed up! There was some ice for a little while on the trail but it quickly deteriorated to the mud conditions we are all so aware of! Guinness started to disappear in the mud hole at the register at Marcy damn as he signed us out! The rest of the hike truly was a death march. Back at the trailhead we removed wet muddy shoes and got into our cars for the long rides home.

Guinness' parting words to me..."next time you want 36 hours of torture, give me a call." Who could resist an invitation like that??

 

[MattC]

"36 hours of torture"

Man, I'm sorry I missed that! Seriously, I couldn't make this since I had to be at work last Friday. Sounds like the arm must be well on the mend if you're out there bagging peaks and falling in tree traps.

Matt

 

[Guinness]

Fun trip! Here are a few pictures from the Redfield trip.

Snowshoes are still required. My trip to Cliff was filled with poor surface conditions and many, many spruce traps up high. Springtime is such an unpredictable time to climb. Over the next couple of weeks the conditions are not favorable to climb Redfield or Cliff as the snow is still several feet deep in places but the surface can not sustain your weight.

 

[TMax]

Man, I'm sorry I missed that!

What, not into masochism?

Sounds like the arm must be well on the mend if you're out there bagging peaks and falling in tree traps.

I'm not discussing decisions that were poorly made... There are too many people waiting to say "I told you so!"

Excellant pictures Ed! Hard to believe there's none of either one of us burried up to our hips in a posthole! Glad the eye is better...

 

[yvon]

Verry good pictures Guinness.

 

[skidoc22]

Nice TR and pix. I'm glad I gave you an object lesson in the whole turtling experience . I hope your elbow is mostly better by now, I didn't see a sling in any of the photos. Probably a mite sore after the pushups out of the spruce traps. All in all sounds like a memorable experience.

 

[Jay H]

Nice report Terri, of course if you had my propeller hat, you'd of been able to simply propel yourself up from your fir trap.

Jay