Bombadil
Active member
2-9-13
Had hoped to do a traverse to Abraham but when we couldn't get my 2WD car out of the driveway at the Roadhouse it was time to temper expectations. We parked at the ski area and ascended the skiiers left-most trails and never had ski patrol swing by to check in with us, perhaps everyone was too busy enjoying all the powder. The uppermost ski trails were all windblown exposing the old snow layer. The summit was very inhospitable. Temps were probably around 0, winds were likely 60+, and it was still snowing heavily. We very nearly scrapped plans of Spaulding after getting pounded by the summit and had to stumble around back to the wind to locate the spur trail. Thankfully the winds were still very high but tolerable in the woods. It took a little over 2 hours to reach Spaulding and it felt much longer than that, struggling through knee deep and many waist deep drifts. The kicker was due to the high wind and the light dry powder our tracks were completely and totally gone for about half of the trip back so we had the pleasure of breaking trail both ways. There were a number of blowdowns that blocked the trail and we lost the trail a couple of times but were able to find it again fairly quickly. On the whole the corridor is nicely maintained and easy to follow. Thanks Jason for the help breaking trail, no easy hike today for sure.
Pat
Had hoped to do a traverse to Abraham but when we couldn't get my 2WD car out of the driveway at the Roadhouse it was time to temper expectations. We parked at the ski area and ascended the skiiers left-most trails and never had ski patrol swing by to check in with us, perhaps everyone was too busy enjoying all the powder. The uppermost ski trails were all windblown exposing the old snow layer. The summit was very inhospitable. Temps were probably around 0, winds were likely 60+, and it was still snowing heavily. We very nearly scrapped plans of Spaulding after getting pounded by the summit and had to stumble around back to the wind to locate the spur trail. Thankfully the winds were still very high but tolerable in the woods. It took a little over 2 hours to reach Spaulding and it felt much longer than that, struggling through knee deep and many waist deep drifts. The kicker was due to the high wind and the light dry powder our tracks were completely and totally gone for about half of the trip back so we had the pleasure of breaking trail both ways. There were a number of blowdowns that blocked the trail and we lost the trail a couple of times but were able to find it again fairly quickly. On the whole the corridor is nicely maintained and easy to follow. Thanks Jason for the help breaking trail, no easy hike today for sure.
Pat
