montvm
New member
Date(s) Hiked: Jan 3 2008
Trails(s) Hiked:Avaolon, A-Z trail, Mt. Tom Spur trail
Total Distance:6.8, 2150 Ft. elev. gain
Difficulty:Moderate some steep sections
Conditions:Bitter cold, Avalon and A-Z trail broken, but still some drifts, Mt. Tom Spur trail unbroken
Special Required Equipment:Cold weather gear, traction optional, flotation, hot soup for summit.
Trip Report:
The plan was to hike to Mt. Tom, then to Mt. Field and then if time allowed we would hike over to Mt. Avalon to complete the loop. Obviously time did not allow for us to do this. We started at Crawford Depot station approximately 9:30am, it was -13 F when we left the trail head and never got above – 10 F.
Avalon was well packed up to the Mt. Willard junction. After that it was still pretty good except for some drifts. We bear booted up to the Mt. Tom Spur. The Spur trail had not been broken since the last snow storm, so finally got to break out the snow shoes. I had not used them since last year, and not with new Columbia Ice Dragon boots rated for -65 that I had purchased the night before. After some wrestling, they fit the binding’s fine.
My buddy Matt started breaking Mt Tom spur trail and then I took over shortly after and broke the rest of the way. He was getting cramps in his legs which seemed strange because both of use had been drinking plenty of sports drink, and eating chocolate. At the summit we had great views, of the Presidential on one side and views into the pemi on the other. I did not bring my camera but Matt did. He only took 6 pictures, even though we had pretty clear skies. Matt’s camera is a canon A-series, and when you power it on the lens telephotos out. The first time he tried to turn it off, the lens would not telephoto back into the camera, it was frozen stuck. After a few tries it finally closed. As you can imagine he was reluctant to use it again.
For the summit, Matt had brought tomato soup which he shared with me. Amazingly it was still piping hot. Best tomato soup I have ever had! It was close to 2pm when we left the summit so we decided to call it a day. Both cold and happy we made our way back to the car.
My new boots worked pretty well. My feet started off cold so it took some time to warm my toes. They got cold again only when we stopped. I had new heavy weight wool blend socks with a liner sock and I think that the combination of the socks bunching at the toes is what made me have cold toes. I will continue to experiment, until I find the right sock, I think that I just have cold feet syndrome. I will email Matt and have him upload the pic’s and then post them.
Pictures are here.... http://picasaweb.google.com/montvm1/MtTom
Mike
Trails(s) Hiked:Avaolon, A-Z trail, Mt. Tom Spur trail
Total Distance:6.8, 2150 Ft. elev. gain
Difficulty:Moderate some steep sections
Conditions:Bitter cold, Avalon and A-Z trail broken, but still some drifts, Mt. Tom Spur trail unbroken
Special Required Equipment:Cold weather gear, traction optional, flotation, hot soup for summit.
Trip Report:
The plan was to hike to Mt. Tom, then to Mt. Field and then if time allowed we would hike over to Mt. Avalon to complete the loop. Obviously time did not allow for us to do this. We started at Crawford Depot station approximately 9:30am, it was -13 F when we left the trail head and never got above – 10 F.
Avalon was well packed up to the Mt. Willard junction. After that it was still pretty good except for some drifts. We bear booted up to the Mt. Tom Spur. The Spur trail had not been broken since the last snow storm, so finally got to break out the snow shoes. I had not used them since last year, and not with new Columbia Ice Dragon boots rated for -65 that I had purchased the night before. After some wrestling, they fit the binding’s fine.
My buddy Matt started breaking Mt Tom spur trail and then I took over shortly after and broke the rest of the way. He was getting cramps in his legs which seemed strange because both of use had been drinking plenty of sports drink, and eating chocolate. At the summit we had great views, of the Presidential on one side and views into the pemi on the other. I did not bring my camera but Matt did. He only took 6 pictures, even though we had pretty clear skies. Matt’s camera is a canon A-series, and when you power it on the lens telephotos out. The first time he tried to turn it off, the lens would not telephoto back into the camera, it was frozen stuck. After a few tries it finally closed. As you can imagine he was reluctant to use it again.
For the summit, Matt had brought tomato soup which he shared with me. Amazingly it was still piping hot. Best tomato soup I have ever had! It was close to 2pm when we left the summit so we decided to call it a day. Both cold and happy we made our way back to the car.
My new boots worked pretty well. My feet started off cold so it took some time to warm my toes. They got cold again only when we stopped. I had new heavy weight wool blend socks with a liner sock and I think that the combination of the socks bunching at the toes is what made me have cold toes. I will continue to experiment, until I find the right sock, I think that I just have cold feet syndrome. I will email Matt and have him upload the pic’s and then post them.
Pictures are here.... http://picasaweb.google.com/montvm1/MtTom
Mike
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