Winter Hike

Today I decided to go up to Mt. Tom for a hike. Well, at first I thought maybe just a walk, but knowing myself I packed all-terrain equipment. What I did not pack, however, was a lunch.

Equipment:
* EMS Hiking pants, zip offs.
* Pack with standard winter survival stuff
* Wool socks, thinsulate semistiff hiking boots
* Gaiters
* Hiking pole aquired from ground
* Yaktrax
* Flannel, techwick, and my German winter army jacket (that thing is HEAVY but totally windproof)


I got up there about 9am and aside from one dude reading a newspaper in his car, I was the only one. The gate was closed as it normal the day after big snow (we got 12" yesterday) so a walk in was needed.

Base temp was 13 according to the car gauge which I have tested to be accurate during a drive. Windspeed was between 16-25, gusts a big higher, according to the internet. That makes the windchill about -5 I think. I have discovered, however, that when you get up top the mountain face channels and accelerates the wind to higher than that. Although I don't know the exact windspeed it was strong enough to knock me over during gusts.

As I was gearing up another car pulled in with two guys that I have met before up here. They climb ice at an undisclosed location at the mountain. I've been up to the ice before to take some pics. My brain had considered that perhaps I would go up to the ice and take pics, but with other guys around I didn't want to be in the way. I also thought that without crampons the final portion of the trip to ice base might be a little difficult.

I greeted the guys and we all left our way. I turned in much farther down than they did, by the maintenance shed to hit up the M&M. That's only 2 miles in down the road.

At the trail head I saw some prints from afar and thought "Great, someone else broke trail already" but it turns out it was just a deer. Very fresh too because the wind had not blown any snow in the prints yet. It looks like he was following the Quarry trail to the shed. He stopped at a tree, turned around a few times, and then ran off in the same direction from which he came. You can tell all this from the prints if you know how to read them. He probably got startled by the guys at the maintenance shed working on the plow trucks.

The M&M at this location is very unforgiving. Within the first 100 feet you are greeted with the steeps of whiting peak. Not so bad in the summer. Defnitely different in the winter with a foot or more of snow.

For added special effects I soon found that the steeps held a surprise. Under the foot+ of snow there were sheer sheets of glare ice. Some spots were ok, the majority was an ice skating rink. Hmmm....I didn't see this possibility.

Being the stubborn head that I am, I decided to see if I could make it up. Now I don't know if you have every tried to go up 45 degree or more slopes with ice on them, with no crampons and just yaktrax, but it certainly is entertaining. I could kick in ice steps in some areas, but in other areas the ice smears atop rock offered no purchase.

Through creative use of trees, smashing the ground with my walking stick, and some interesting acrobatics I managed to make it up the steep part of whiting peak. It was probably only about 600 or 700 feet but it took me a good 45 minutes.

The view up top was worth it though. Rolling ground of completely untouched powder, drifts shaped by the winds, begging to be crossed. I found that some of the drifts were butt-high. Totally awesome to hike through.

Because the M&M follows the cliffline and I could not see what was under the snow (like ice, deadfall, etc) I decided to stay in a bit, less one trip to take pictures. After about an hour I decided it was break time. My gloves were frozen stiff from getting wet during the ice-escapade earlier. I hit up one of my shelters I frequent in the summer (Well off the beaten path) and made a small warming fire. I even managed to get it going by using just flint 'n' steel.

After warming up for a bit I continued on for a few. I heard the voices of the guys ice-climbing, who were ironically below me now. I looked at my watch and decided to head back, so I could get some lunch. By "head back" I mean another two hours of hiking before getting to the car.

When I got back to the ice-capades I decided to take the easy way down and glissade. I hunted around for a branch that I could use as a primitive ice-axe. (you can use a sturdy branch that has another branch coming off it, flip it upside down to look like an ice pick, and whala, it works well.

I picked a different way down than the way I came up. A few less trees to hit should I go out of control, and given the sunlight, less chance for sheer ice to be under the snow.

Grab primitive ice axe and WHEEEEEEE. Damn, did I get a wedgie on that one. Only took about a minute and a half to get down what it took me 45 minutes to get up. How nice.

Pics to be posted later!