Santanoni Shutout
After a determined (11:28), but devastatingly disappointing attempt at Santanoni and Panther, I have a few post scripts about the conditions on the Santanoni ridge. Final score.....Santanoni and Panther 2, us 0. I will try to keep this brief, but yesterday was anything but brief.
Trailhead parking is plowed so you do not have to park on the road. The main trail to Bradley Pond is in excellent condition. Tracked and packed and unmistakable. The herd path to the Santanoni Ridge is also in excellent shape although there are a few zigs, zags and steep ascents that could have been less severe.
We followed the most prominent tracked path to Panther Brook without any problems. From the junction with Panther Brook we continued to ascend on an excellent track with increasing amounts of snow. There were several paths branching left or south from this main herd path, but we decided to stay with the most definite one. The one we were on seemed to drift north too much and it was extremely steep in the upper reaches before the ridge. As we topped out on the Santanoni ridge, the main path we had been following "deadended" and restarted in several directions which we explored only to discover successive deadends. One (out of several) did end up at the large ridge boulder where you can easily see Santanoni, Panther and Couch. We spent nearly an hour searching for Times Square or any established herd path to Panther. We were not successful. I briefly started to bushwhack in the direction of Panther, but soon found myself in deep snow surrounded by spruce traps. We were past our designated turn-around time and very disappointingly started to descend via the main herd path that we ascended.
I am now pouring over my notes and maps trying to figure out where we went wrong. I believe the herd path to Santanoni was visible (south of the ridge boulder), but the lateness of the day precluded us from taking that chance. But to have Panther within sight (.5 mile and 200 feet of ascent) after almost 2800 feet of vertical and 5 miles of snowshoe hiking was a tough pill to swallow. 1 for 2 would have been at least a psychological victory. More planned time might have allowed us a greater time margin to try for Santanoni, but I am still puzzled over the disappearance of any track in the direction of Panther after such a highly defined route to the ridge. The great mystery is that I don't know what I missed. I have this nagging feeling that I should have explored the Santanoni path for it might have connected with TS and the routes to Panther and Couchsachraga.
