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Southern Prezies 2/27/16

wtcobb

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Joined
Feb 28, 2012
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825
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Location
North of the Notch
I was undecided on my trip before this morning - Tom, Field, and Willey were in mind - but upon waking and seeing clear day I knew I had to get above treeline. To the other side of Crawford I went with the dog in tow.

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The day didn't disappoint. I wore full crampons expecting the worst of the rains. Many had micros, a brave group were barebooting. While the crampons weren't vital as you could easily sidestep the worst ice, it was fun to get in some frontpointing up the face of some of the bigger flows.

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The trail to Jackson was well packed with icy patches. Up on the summit was windswept snow and hardpack over the rocks. But the better story was the sky. Bluebird in every direction with no trace of wind.

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Moving on toward Pierce and Mitzpah there was quite a bit of snow through the high woods. Drifts were knee deep or higher in places. I was thankful for the few footprints ahead of me to track down the snow a bit.

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I had planned on Jackson - Pierce, but was optimistic about my pace and the weather (no wind despite the forecast for heavy afternoon winds). I reasoned if I made it to Pierce by 1PM, I could continue to Eisenhower and make a safe turnaround by 2, 2:30 latest. Hit Pierce by 12:45, so on to Ike we went.

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The winds picked up slightly by the time we made it to Eisenhower. A quick stop before cold set in, then back to Crawford Path to get down.

My mistake of the day was not wearing my heavyweight Bean socks and going with lightweight SmartWools in my heavy mountaineering boots. I have a wicked blister on my heel from that decision. Still made it out to ski Sunday, though.
 

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