Wright Dec 22

[nundagao]

There were five of us and we wore snowshoes on the climb despite lots of barely-covered rocks and roots, expecting more snow higher up, but it was pretty thin all the way. Beyond the Algonquin trail junction, the summit rocks were coated with snow and ice. No need for microspikes; MSRs were adequate. There was sort of a dark, frozen fog up there, and we could barely see from one cairn to the next. The cairns themselves were all frosted and looked like grayish white gnomes and, except for the tallest, were barely distinguishable. Although it was quiet everywhere else the whole day, windy Wright lived up to its reputation with a steady north gale raking the summit so we didn't linger, and visibility being so poor we felt it best to get back down to the trail before our sparse tracks were totally obscured. We enjoyed a couple of good butt slides getting back to the junction. Coming down the snowshoes were useful for traction, but below the ski trail they were clattering on the rocks so we barebooted the rest of it. It was an easy and fun warm-up for another winter climbing season!