Jay H
New member
Despite popular opinion, 2 other intrepid hikers decided to tackle the lower great range via a clockwise loop, starting from St Huberts and getting the somewhat boring 3ish mile road walk out of the way early. Me, 7Summits, and AJTIV got about a 7am start, after meeting Al in his car after his marathon 6 mile drive from Long Island at around Midnight to meet us at 7am. Poor Al, he would be feeling that lack of sleep for most of the day and into saturday night.
Anyway, we mosey up the road, making decent time. This was 7Summits second ADK hike, the first being a non-winter hike of Cascade and Porter. This would be in stark contrast to a fairly easy hike in the ADKs to a much more difficult undertaking, especially comparing it to Cascade/Porter. As we're walking down the road, we're pointing out the Wolfjaws and the trails to CBND along the way as well as the usual chatter about how rich one has to be to become a member of the A-usable Club...
Anyway, barebooting to the lower lake, we cross the bridge at the maintenance yard and don our snowshoes. old tracks with blown in snow. Not many people on the Scenic trail as there were an old set of tracks half blown in with fresh powder. This is my first usage of my new Northern Lite elites so I'm anxious to see how it goes...
Getting up to the Col on the Weld trail, it is obvious that Al is getting hammered by his lack of sleep, The trail is well broken but still a bit slippery due to the steepness in sections and I lead for the entire day. Knowing the path is fairly obvious, I forge ahead and wait a bit for 7Summits and Al to show up at the Col. The clouds are around but there are limited views of the shoulder of Sawteeth on the way up and there are glimpses of blue sky. None of us drop our packs, but just decide to hike up the .5 mile ascent to the summit. At the summit, we take pictures from the viewpoint which was somewhat snowed in but not enough that we couldn't make out Pyramid and Gothics and the peaks in the Great Range. After a nice short break, I descend down towards the col as 7Summits tends to a hotspot. It's about 11am when I get back to the col and I decide to eat my bagel a)before it freezes and b) so I don't need to carry it up Pyramid and c)I had time now.
The steep climb up Pyramid is a good test of my snowshoes, definitely a less agressive crampon than my old Sherpa climbers which could scale vertical walls. But then again, they're like 2.5 times the weight of these babies. The trail here is more wind blown and more blown in than Sawteeth and there were obvious postholers that we would run into their holes all the way to Armstrong.
7Summits and I make it to the Gothics col, where I waited so 7Summits would know to make the right turn. Left a visual arrow for Al knowing he knows the trail, we headed off to Gothics for the usual summit celebration. Windy, but not blown-over windy and I take a few shots there of 7Summits and the views. Onward, we head down towards Armstrong. At the junction of the Beaver Meadow trail, we wait for Al for a few minutes and we run into our first 3 folks we meet for the day. After meeting up with Al, 7summits and I decide we are feeling strong enough to finish the proposed loop. There is an old set of postholes going down the BM trail and Al is definitely feeling it but we convince him to go for Armstrong since it's not a far or hard hike. The hardest stuff is behind us (or so we think...).
Up and over Armstrong, we finally meet the rest of the gang, Slamdog, Ward, Mike, etc. Just above the ladder (Back at the trailhead, I joked about meeting at the ladder and we were pretty damm close!). Anyway, after a few pleasentries we go another 1/4 mile and hit the ladder. During the butt slide to the ladder, 7summits manages to jam her pole into a tree and snap crackle pop, now she has 3 poles!
ooops.
The Ladder, getting down this thing will be interesting, Al gets his rope and we try to tie off a double length to a stump above the ladder... But since there's still a length of ground to cover to get to the ladder, it appears the rope is only really long enough to get to the top, and ineffective for the actual ladder itself. This is after accidentally dropping the rope and it almost careening down if not for getting caught in a tree! We take our snowshoes off and I toss mine down below as well as my poles. I guess I'm committed now I change to crampons and with my ice axe, carefully approach the ladder. I am sitting above the top rung and using my adze on my axe, hacking away at the block ice on the upper rungs. It appears that after the top three rungs, there might be space enough from the previous parties to simply downclimb the ladder, but it's taking forever to hack away at the ice on the top rungs. Looking left of the ladder, there is fresh snow, of which it really looks enticing to simply butt slide it. After a few thoughts, I go for it... Whhhheeeeeee... plop into the snow on the bottom... Afterwards, 7Summits makes her butt slide attempt down the chute I just went down. Al, decided to downclimbs the ladder and manages to get enough of a foothold to successfully do that.... After collecting the yard sale of gear strewn about down below, we head off down... Not bad, nobody hurt and nothing broken! Next time, bring longer rope!
The rest of the downclimb was easy as compared to the ladder, more fun butt sliding was had by all and we got to UWJ at about 3:15pm on the little spur trail to the summit.
Down to the col, we do drop packs at this point at the first Wedge Brook sign and start to climb...And then we come across another sign that says "wedge Brook" and then I'm wondering... did we just leave our packs at the wrong trail? I get out my map and I see that there are two trails that lead to the same Wedge Brook down below so I guess we didn't do too bad although in hindsight, it is probably smarter to leave packs at the base of LWJ rather than the base of UWJ, shorter and the trail does climb a little from that part of the Wedge Brook trail. Oh well.
The 600' climb to LWJ from the col was tough, fading daylight and a steep ascent, even without packs, we move on knowing it is the last peak to do of the day. Whew...
Butt sliding down to our packs is another fun trip and we gather our packs (did they just get heavier????) for the looooooonnnnnnggggg descend down the Wedge Brook. More butt sliding, more wondering where the hell is this road... and more fading daylight, it gets very dark by the time we hit the road. 7summits has already put on her headlight on the way down. I refuse to stop and simply let my eyes adjust. We finally get to the road and we take our snowshoes off and hike the remaining grueling 1-2mile back to the gate and then another .75 mile back to the car.
Completely dark, our cars are the only ones left in the main lot... Al decided against tagging Noonmark on the way out.
Pictures:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/557577520WbsTAN
My camera never really left my pack after putting it inside for the Armstrong Ladder downclimb. Al tossed my pack down after I butt slid down so I put my camera on the inside of my pack.
Jay
Anyway, we mosey up the road, making decent time. This was 7Summits second ADK hike, the first being a non-winter hike of Cascade and Porter. This would be in stark contrast to a fairly easy hike in the ADKs to a much more difficult undertaking, especially comparing it to Cascade/Porter. As we're walking down the road, we're pointing out the Wolfjaws and the trails to CBND along the way as well as the usual chatter about how rich one has to be to become a member of the A-usable Club...
Anyway, barebooting to the lower lake, we cross the bridge at the maintenance yard and don our snowshoes. old tracks with blown in snow. Not many people on the Scenic trail as there were an old set of tracks half blown in with fresh powder. This is my first usage of my new Northern Lite elites so I'm anxious to see how it goes...
Getting up to the Col on the Weld trail, it is obvious that Al is getting hammered by his lack of sleep, The trail is well broken but still a bit slippery due to the steepness in sections and I lead for the entire day. Knowing the path is fairly obvious, I forge ahead and wait a bit for 7Summits and Al to show up at the Col. The clouds are around but there are limited views of the shoulder of Sawteeth on the way up and there are glimpses of blue sky. None of us drop our packs, but just decide to hike up the .5 mile ascent to the summit. At the summit, we take pictures from the viewpoint which was somewhat snowed in but not enough that we couldn't make out Pyramid and Gothics and the peaks in the Great Range. After a nice short break, I descend down towards the col as 7Summits tends to a hotspot. It's about 11am when I get back to the col and I decide to eat my bagel a)before it freezes and b) so I don't need to carry it up Pyramid and c)I had time now.
The steep climb up Pyramid is a good test of my snowshoes, definitely a less agressive crampon than my old Sherpa climbers which could scale vertical walls. But then again, they're like 2.5 times the weight of these babies. The trail here is more wind blown and more blown in than Sawteeth and there were obvious postholers that we would run into their holes all the way to Armstrong.
7Summits and I make it to the Gothics col, where I waited so 7Summits would know to make the right turn. Left a visual arrow for Al knowing he knows the trail, we headed off to Gothics for the usual summit celebration. Windy, but not blown-over windy and I take a few shots there of 7Summits and the views. Onward, we head down towards Armstrong. At the junction of the Beaver Meadow trail, we wait for Al for a few minutes and we run into our first 3 folks we meet for the day. After meeting up with Al, 7summits and I decide we are feeling strong enough to finish the proposed loop. There is an old set of postholes going down the BM trail and Al is definitely feeling it but we convince him to go for Armstrong since it's not a far or hard hike. The hardest stuff is behind us (or so we think...).
Up and over Armstrong, we finally meet the rest of the gang, Slamdog, Ward, Mike, etc. Just above the ladder (Back at the trailhead, I joked about meeting at the ladder and we were pretty damm close!). Anyway, after a few pleasentries we go another 1/4 mile and hit the ladder. During the butt slide to the ladder, 7summits manages to jam her pole into a tree and snap crackle pop, now she has 3 poles!
ooops. The Ladder, getting down this thing will be interesting, Al gets his rope and we try to tie off a double length to a stump above the ladder... But since there's still a length of ground to cover to get to the ladder, it appears the rope is only really long enough to get to the top, and ineffective for the actual ladder itself. This is after accidentally dropping the rope and it almost careening down if not for getting caught in a tree! We take our snowshoes off and I toss mine down below as well as my poles. I guess I'm committed now
I change to crampons and with my ice axe, carefully approach the ladder. I am sitting above the top rung and using my adze on my axe, hacking away at the block ice on the upper rungs. It appears that after the top three rungs, there might be space enough from the previous parties to simply downclimb the ladder, but it's taking forever to hack away at the ice on the top rungs. Looking left of the ladder, there is fresh snow, of which it really looks enticing to simply butt slide it. After a few thoughts, I go for it... Whhhheeeeeee... plop into the snow on the bottom... Afterwards, 7Summits makes her butt slide attempt down the chute I just went down. Al, decided to downclimbs the ladder and manages to get enough of a foothold to successfully do that.... After collecting the yard sale of gear strewn about down below, we head off down... Not bad, nobody hurt and nothing broken! Next time, bring longer rope!The rest of the downclimb was easy as compared to the ladder, more fun butt sliding was had by all and we got to UWJ at about 3:15pm on the little spur trail to the summit.
Down to the col, we do drop packs at this point at the first Wedge Brook sign and start to climb...And then we come across another sign that says "wedge Brook" and then I'm wondering...
did we just leave our packs at the wrong trail? I get out my map and I see that there are two trails that lead to the same Wedge Brook down below so I guess we didn't do too bad although in hindsight, it is probably smarter to leave packs at the base of LWJ rather than the base of UWJ, shorter and the trail does climb a little from that part of the Wedge Brook trail. Oh well. The 600' climb to LWJ from the col was tough, fading daylight and a steep ascent, even without packs, we move on knowing it is the last peak to do of the day. Whew...
Butt sliding down to our packs is another fun trip and we gather our packs (did they just get heavier????
) for the looooooonnnnnnggggg descend down the Wedge Brook. More butt sliding, more wondering where the hell is this road... and more fading daylight, it gets very dark by the time we hit the road. 7summits has already put on her headlight on the way down. I refuse to stop and simply let my eyes adjust. We finally get to the road and we take our snowshoes off and hike the remaining grueling 1-2mile back to the gate and then another .75 mile back to the car. Completely dark, our cars are the only ones left in the main lot... Al decided against tagging Noonmark on the way out.
Pictures:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/557577520WbsTAN
My camera never really left my pack after putting it inside for the Armstrong Ladder downclimb. Al tossed my pack down after I butt slid down so I put my camera on the inside of my pack.
Jay
