Bombadil
Active member
1-25-13
After a full day course at the Highland Center I decided I'd make good use of the evening by doing the loop solo from the Highland Center, heading up around 5pm. AZ was well broken out to the Tom Spur with some heavy drifts at higher elevations. Spur was well broken out, but light clouds killed any chance of good photos from the viewpoint. The trail to Field was super drifted in which was expected given the high winds from yesterday. A few tracks came up via Avalon to Field but unfortunately didn't continue to Willey so again more trailbreaking through the wind-driven drifts to Willey (I lost the trail in a few places by the massive clusters of blowdowns but routefinding isn't too bad). Trail was moderately packed back down to the AZ junction from Field but I still think snowshoes would be the way to go even with the firm consolidated trail for the first mile or so. Temps were around 0 or so, maybe a little lower up on the ridge and with barely a breeze up high it was a few orders of magnitude more enjoyable than Moriah last night! Again found the cold to help with speed, completing the hike in 3 1/2 hours with a fair bit of trailbreaking. Can't wait for temps in the teens or 20s though...
Pat
pcushing21 at yahoo dot com
After a full day course at the Highland Center I decided I'd make good use of the evening by doing the loop solo from the Highland Center, heading up around 5pm. AZ was well broken out to the Tom Spur with some heavy drifts at higher elevations. Spur was well broken out, but light clouds killed any chance of good photos from the viewpoint. The trail to Field was super drifted in which was expected given the high winds from yesterday. A few tracks came up via Avalon to Field but unfortunately didn't continue to Willey so again more trailbreaking through the wind-driven drifts to Willey (I lost the trail in a few places by the massive clusters of blowdowns but routefinding isn't too bad). Trail was moderately packed back down to the AZ junction from Field but I still think snowshoes would be the way to go even with the firm consolidated trail for the first mile or so. Temps were around 0 or so, maybe a little lower up on the ridge and with barely a breeze up high it was a few orders of magnitude more enjoyable than Moriah last night! Again found the cold to help with speed, completing the hike in 3 1/2 hours with a fair bit of trailbreaking. Can't wait for temps in the teens or 20s though...
Pat
pcushing21 at yahoo dot com
