w7xman
Active member
My buddy and I did some hiking around the notches the last few days, and wow, it's a good winter for snow. But with that comes breaking trail...
Conditions yesterday (Tuesday) were clearing, cold, and decreasingly windy. The Crawford Notch area was the bullseye for the last storms accumulation, with over two new feet on the ground at the highland center, and more higher up. After breaking trail to Lila's Ledge the day before (a short but incredibly tiring hike in the conditions) among other winter walking, we decided we would only do Avalon if the trail was broken!
We arrived at 2PM to the lot, and found fresh tracks...luck was looking good...but we had no idea how far they went. And trudging through 3-5 foot drifts to get to the tracks pretty much guarenteed we weren't making sunset if we had to break trail.
About a mile in, two folks came down, and confirmed that it was broken to the summit, as they, and another couple had broken it out we thanked them. Met the other couple a few minutes later, who started at 9AM and it took them 5+ hours to go the ~two miles...deep fluffies. And in talking to them...our heros were Jimmy Legs and Little D from the Observatory's forums and lurkers here. Great to meet you guys.
The last pitch was steep, and but we got to the summit a bit after 4:30. I shot the last light on the beautiful rimed up trees for a few minutes, but wanted to save batteries. Here's the best shot of that scene...
We then hunkered down in spruce wells and hid from the wind until sunset. Clouds were dissolving, light on the mountains was intense. At 5:10, I stirred to start shooting, and all of a sudden, the light disappeared...
We had no view to the west, but there was nothing but clear skies in every direction. Confused...dissapointed...tired...I resorted to a lot of cussing!
After bright glow, nothing! Flat light on a great view...
We kept trying to convince ourselves that the light was coming back.
It never did.
I did get two other shots I liked though, one down the notch, and one of the range right as darkness was settling on the range...probably not going into the portfolio, but nice shots none the less...
and
The hike out was quick under headlamp. We got back to the notch under brillient starlight without the new moon.
Despite the frustrations of slow slogging, and poor light, it was a great day out!
When I got home, I checked the webcam archive. These are the two shots before and after the light faded, and the tiny annoying cloud that stole an epic shot. I'll be back...
and the mountain...
Seeing this is frustrating...but again, well worth the experience!
Conditions yesterday (Tuesday) were clearing, cold, and decreasingly windy. The Crawford Notch area was the bullseye for the last storms accumulation, with over two new feet on the ground at the highland center, and more higher up. After breaking trail to Lila's Ledge the day before (a short but incredibly tiring hike in the conditions) among other winter walking, we decided we would only do Avalon if the trail was broken!
We arrived at 2PM to the lot, and found fresh tracks...luck was looking good...but we had no idea how far they went. And trudging through 3-5 foot drifts to get to the tracks pretty much guarenteed we weren't making sunset if we had to break trail.
About a mile in, two folks came down, and confirmed that it was broken to the summit, as they, and another couple had broken it out we thanked them. Met the other couple a few minutes later, who started at 9AM and it took them 5+ hours to go the ~two miles...deep fluffies. And in talking to them...our heros were Jimmy Legs and Little D from the Observatory's forums and lurkers here. Great to meet you guys.
The last pitch was steep, and but we got to the summit a bit after 4:30. I shot the last light on the beautiful rimed up trees for a few minutes, but wanted to save batteries. Here's the best shot of that scene...
We then hunkered down in spruce wells and hid from the wind until sunset. Clouds were dissolving, light on the mountains was intense. At 5:10, I stirred to start shooting, and all of a sudden, the light disappeared...
We had no view to the west, but there was nothing but clear skies in every direction. Confused...dissapointed...tired...I resorted to a lot of cussing!
After bright glow, nothing! Flat light on a great view...
We kept trying to convince ourselves that the light was coming back.
It never did.
I did get two other shots I liked though, one down the notch, and one of the range right as darkness was settling on the range...probably not going into the portfolio, but nice shots none the less...
and
The hike out was quick under headlamp. We got back to the notch under brillient starlight without the new moon.
Despite the frustrations of slow slogging, and poor light, it was a great day out!
When I got home, I checked the webcam archive. These are the two shots before and after the light faded, and the tiny annoying cloud that stole an epic shot. I'll be back...
and the mountain...
Seeing this is frustrating...but again, well worth the experience!
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Doesn't matter though. Those pictures were still spectacular. and you got out. Bravo!
