[Mike P.]

There was more info in the Union Leader Article. They had parked at the Cog so Ammo or Jewell was their expected route. Does not sound like they made it to the top as the pot used to dig the hole was intended to be used at the top, not was used at the top.

While I think an approach from the Cog is easier than the PNVC trailheads, the caveat is that you are above treeline for more miles & the area above LOC, is somewhat featureless, (non-prominent features) especially in low/poor visibility conditions. Weather does come in from that side but on a gray day with 200-300 visibility which would make seeing Cairns okay, it would be hard to see if the gray low light low visibility conditions coming at you were more gray & worse then the gray you were in.

Coming in from the Cog on a weekend I would not expect you to be alone but it's far from the Conga line that can be in place on the standard Winter Lion's head Route. On Lion's head if you found that others were turning back, you might follow the tribe or at least really think about it.

This had a happy ending so that's good, also shows you need probably fair or better weather to try this approach.