Blackhead 2014-12-21
Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2014 10:24 pm
First day of winter is a good time to get a winter peak out of the way, so Jon took Chris and me (it was Chris's first winter peak, and my fourth, hurrah!) to Blackhead.
Weather: No rain or snow, but the mountain was socked in by cloud the whole day. We could tell that at the summit we were near the top of the cloud layer, from the way it was getting brighter, but we never got a view.
Trail conditions: Snow depth at altitude was about the length of my ice axe, when I probed it. It felt as if the spike was hitting ice rather than rock underneath. The trail was badly postholed about up to the spring, after which a lot more people appear to have finally put on their snowshoes. I got a little bit sketched out on the switchbacks above the spring, because some of the narrow ledges were pretty icy, but that's mosly a matter that I need to learn to trust my gear more. Jon needed crampons for the walk up the ridge from Lockwood Gap to where the summit flattens out. I found that my MSR Ascent snowshoes gripped just fine and left them on. All three of us broke out the ice axes to glissade back down.
Trip report at my blog. In the trip report, Jon took all the pictures that don't have Jon in them.
I think Chris was happy to make it to the summit.
(Photo by Jon.)
I was not keeping up. Those two guys would have been good to go for Black Dome and Thomas Cole (and had a car spotted at Barnum Road to do it), but turned back on my account after doing Blackhead. It was a good thing, too. I was seriously struggling by the time we got back to Big Hollow. Thanks again! You guys rock!
Weather: No rain or snow, but the mountain was socked in by cloud the whole day. We could tell that at the summit we were near the top of the cloud layer, from the way it was getting brighter, but we never got a view.
Trail conditions: Snow depth at altitude was about the length of my ice axe, when I probed it. It felt as if the spike was hitting ice rather than rock underneath. The trail was badly postholed about up to the spring, after which a lot more people appear to have finally put on their snowshoes. I got a little bit sketched out on the switchbacks above the spring, because some of the narrow ledges were pretty icy, but that's mosly a matter that I need to learn to trust my gear more. Jon needed crampons for the walk up the ridge from Lockwood Gap to where the summit flattens out. I found that my MSR Ascent snowshoes gripped just fine and left them on. All three of us broke out the ice axes to glissade back down.
Trip report at my blog. In the trip report, Jon took all the pictures that don't have Jon in them.
I think Chris was happy to make it to the summit.
(Photo by Jon.)
I was not keeping up. Those two guys would have been good to go for Black Dome and Thomas Cole (and had a car spotted at Barnum Road to do it), but turned back on my account after doing Blackhead. It was a good thing, too. I was seriously struggling by the time we got back to Big Hollow. Thanks again! You guys rock!